Thanks to FreeWar and freechimchangas for the favorites! Free day today it seems.

The Review Inbox:

iZuikaku: I've been thinking about getting Azur Lane for a while now, but I don't have it. Thanks for the recommendation, anyways.

KCNederland: Thanks! I suppose my crazy idea has some merit buried under my terrible ass writing.

I suppose the pacing is rushed, but it seems slow to me, personally. That might have something to do with my brain running two times faster than normal, but it's probably just me.

Character development is actually going to be my main priority for chapters 5 and 6. It's the weekend, after all, and even a military base need decomp time.

Yuri... Uh, we'll see.

It's more than a single line, I think, but I do agree I haven't described Admiral Steele too well. I'll try and outline her appearance in chapter 5, I guess. I already have chapters 3 and 4 written, and I'm not changing them beyond minor edits.

Thanks for the feedback anyway!

Send your reviews, I'll answer them above. That's what the box is for, y'know.

Journal of Admiral Steele; January 4, 2558

Back to the grind again…. thank the gods for caffeine.

After letting the kids stay up a little late watching their leader play a game, I'd finally kicked them out around 1800 hours. Gently, of course.

I found them regaling the other destroyers with tales of Tenryuu fangirling over the game. She denied them all, but that blush was visible from Reach.

"Admiral! Is it true Tenryuu is a fangirl?!" Fubuki asked eagerly as I sat down. I gave a nod with all the gravity of a star.

"Yes. And for that, she must face the most dire of punishments: public knowledge." I intoned. The destroyers broke down into laughter, and Tatsuta was struggling to hold in her giggles.

"Morning!" A mountain of food was placed next to me, Akagi following it to the table.

"Jesus Akagi, you off a ranch while I wasn't looking?" I asked. She gave me a sideways look. "Think you have enough food?" I clarified as I pointed at the food mountain in front of her.

"Of course!" She chirped, and then… well shit. Sounds like a shredder going to work.

I'm breaking out my old friend Jack today looks like.

Ignoring that little existential crisis, I got to see why Akagi has a bow on the lane range. Her 'arrows' are actually fighters. Way back when they would probably have been standard Japanese planes, like the Zero or some such, but now they were UNSC Longsword and Rapier fighters. When she shot an arrow, the ships would form from it, attack the target in a predetermined formation, then head back, landing on for what all the world looked like the deck of an aircraft carrier, before returning to her. That mountain of food was to keep them all resupplied, or she could gnaw on bauxite.

Christ.

I left her about the range, trusting her not to break anything as I wandered to my office, dully noticing the proximity sensors registering a Phoenix ship entering the defensive perimeter.

Oh, shit.

I mentally thanked the ODST training from hell for saving me from that run. A half-mile? If I had been a bog-standard pre-War Admiral, that run would have been torture. But ODSTs did runs like that in our sleep.

Again, there's a reason we're all considered top-rate insane.

I made it to the receiving bay just as the ship opened the airlock, allowing me to greet the new arrivals, as usual.

"Akizuki and DesDiv 12 reporting for duty!" Akizuki and her squadmates saluted. I let them run off to find the other destroyers.

"UNSC Paladin, reporting." Paladin saluted me, textbook. From the three others behind her, identical in everything but hairstyle, I assume they're Judicator, Justice, and Mercy. These UNSC destroyers were dressed differently, for sure. For one, they wore dark grey officer coats instead of white sailor uniforms, and they didn't have hats. Cool.

I returned their salute and sent them off. It should be interesting, watching UNSC shipgirls interact with the WWII shipgirls. Wait, they did get a refresher on why they're here, right?

"UNSC Guardian, here to perform repairs, ma'am." Hmm, another repair ship. I sent her to what I was now going to term the R&D area. So far the repair and science ships are getting on like a house on fire, some more won't hurt.

And if they get me a railgun it definitely won't hurt.

"Kamoi, reporting for duty." Yup, supply ship. Motherly and all. I sent her to work with her fellow suppliers, excellent timing considering Akagi's eating habits. I was getting tempted to help them myself, and ODSTs aren't the best chefs in the UNSC.

"UNSC Imperative, ready for action!" Oh? A resupply ship? So today's a support unit day, huh? Alrighty.

With the excitement over, I returned to my office.

Sign off, sign off, reject, ignore, blah blah blah….

I don't like paperwork, in case you didn't notice.

Anyways, I now had what I considered enough numbers to begin scouting and recon into Sector A.

To wit, I called all the combat capable ships that weren't in the R&D division into my office. The twelve destroyers, two light cruisers, and one carrier were to scout the Sector and confirm it's size and shape. Once done, the eggheads would divide the sector into sections. I designated Akagi flagship, mentioning her recon ships would be effective for the operation. If they were spotted by enemy forces and engaged, they had the option to either fight or retreat, but they could not initiate hostilities. All of them saluted, and left for the staging platform.

I was quite surprised that they all lifted off in a formation. I guess they did that to impress me? I dunno, maybe it's cause they're ships. Though, I do recall seeing the Aether recently….

Ignoring that, I went on to other things, like brushing up on my SRS99C sniping skills. And my M6G Magnum skill. I basically went through the entire armory making sure I hadn't gotten too rusty with my shooting. Then I went to the melee training area and drew a silver barbell from my thigh.

The energy sword ignited with that magnificent *kssh*, the plasma blade extending in front of and surrounding my wrist. I went through some sword forms I'd learned from a Sangheili swordsmaster on… was it Gemini II? I'm pretty sure it was Gemini II. He'd been surprised a human wanted to learn his species' most honorable combat style. I think that earned politics points for us. Bah, politics.

Turning the blade off, I went off to check the dorms. Yup, each had their own common rooms, so that part of the plan would work.

The second part also looked to be a viable option soon, as Kamoi came to me and requested supplies to build a bar, basically. I approved, then asked who'd run it. She said they'd be here tomorrow.

The suspense, man.

The fleet returned at 1700 hours, none of them with injury. They'd scouted the Sector, about 2400 by 1700 AUs, if we were going rectangular. I sent off the area as required and sent them to dinner. The after-action report from Akagi mentioned no resistance was encountered, but they spotted enemy movement. Small types. I included images her recon ships had taken in the report.

The mess hall was lively as the girls celebrated a successful mission. Better than during the war, where it was either temporary stalemate or devastating loss. Of course, it had nothing on the celebration we had when we realized we weren't going to die in 2553.

Every shipgirl was there, and there was food to go around. Half the fun was keeping Akagi away from it to ensure everyone else could eat. Of course, boob jokes disguised as fuel tank jokes were made, thankfully flying over the destroyers' heads. They acted way too much like kids for me to be comfortable understanding that.

Of course, this was an easy mission. They only get worse from here.

Greetings, Admiral Steele.

Your directory access is Classification Level 7.

Retrieving file...

ONI Personnel File: SPARTAN Lieutenant [REDACTED Terra] B312 (Noble Six)

Homeworld: [REDACTED Reach]

Birthdate: [REDACTED 2544]

Rank: Lieutenant

Career: Marine; 25th Infantry; SPARTAN III (Beta Company)

The Rant

And so our intrepid shipgirls charted a sector for future endeavors.

Also, a party was had.

In all seriousness, it's not going to be all fine and dandy every mission. I'll get to that later. For now, easy missions to ease them into it.

Commanding isn't pretty.

Also, a Merry-ass Christmas to you, depending on when I post this. Once I get out of December, I plan on having this be a biweekly or monthly series, so as to give me time to work on other projects, since these are relatively easy to write. But please, feel free to drop a review/follow/favorite/whatever whenever you'd like. I won't mind.

Also railguns.

Publish note: Almost didn't get this out on time! I blame Stardew Valley; I found out why it's addicting. Now to romance my waifus (Not sorry).