This isn't me returning to the story just yet. The buffer isn't built up enough for it. I just have this chapter sitting around with some time-sensitive references, so I decided to post it.

Resolves to write more after writing some last night.

only writes a paragraph.

JUST

Thanks to megaman11756 and Magicknight573, as well as GreenRena and chaoslord1324 for the follow/favorites.

Journal of Admiral Steele, January 14, 2558

It's official.

I've run out of things to do/complain about. This bodes not well for my mental state.

I got so bored that I actually went and looked at our fleet compositions.

The UNSC Grand Fleet, trademark, is split into several smaller flotillas, something more effective now that we don't have plasma-toting aliens gunning for everything larger than a light cruiser. A battleship, carrier, super battleship, supercarrier, or dreadnought is designated as the flotilla flagship. Flotilla are usually made up of their flagship, four destroyers as their escort, a couple frigates, some cruisers, and on the occasion, a heavier ship. Flotilla are usually given patrol routes or a presence around X planet. Earth and Reach still have their own Defense Fleets, though they still haven't reached full strength yet. Last I heard, they were planning on resurrecting the Trafalgar as it's own class, and maybe basing some more off of it.

I have been out of the loop for a bit. Absently I wondered if this project was declassified if I'd be awarded a Fleet Admiral rank. The number of shipgirls on the station was beginning to add up, and the total number of warships we had was somewhere in the high hundreds to low one thousands. Maybe I'd shoot a facetious email to HIGHCOM and they'd actually accept it.

It might alleviate the boredom somewhat.

I went to the science lab to take a look in on the science ships. Phoenix had sent word of new shipgirls, more specifically, two shipgirls that matched Aether's personality.

The lab was deserted once I entered, various projects, blueprints, paper, and disposable coffee cups littered around. The matter replicator hummed quietly in a corner, next to a sign that said not to use it unauthorized under duress of SCIENCE! happening to the infringer's sorry ass.

I was about to leave when I heard a noise from down a hallway. I suppose the science ships would want to live near their work.

The hallway was shortish, with eight doors, one marked with Akashi's name, another with Luna's (and with a sock on the handle, I really didn't want to process those implications… or the possibility thereof), and finally, Aether's, which I heard more noises. I think it was Japanese, since my translator was pinging with random snippets of translation. Some of which was bordering on explicit. I opened the door.

Luna was sat in front of a computer, typing furiously one one screen while another, to her right and angled more towards the door, played an episode of an anime (the introductory sequence and my translator helpfully supplying the name Love Live!, a show from a long time ago). Scattered around the desk she was sitting at were various figures in varying stages of completion, while more took up space on shelves and tables that were not in the original room plan. A pillow roughly the height of the smaller shipgirl (5'4", compared to Luna's 5'7" or my 6') was laid out on the bed, depicting some girl with long blue hair, naked, and very nicely proportioned. Posters of other anime (dear god) were hanging around the room, each of them some variety of eye-searingly bright.

Luna continued her typing as I looked around the room, the volume her anime was at possibly drowning my entrance out. This let me get a good look at exactly what she was typing. And looking at it... well hot damn. She has... uh, inventive, ideas for what can be done with a microphone, spray paint, and twelve feet of pool noodle. Wait a second, how old are those girls?

Glancing back at the other screen, I noticed that slightly underlaid beneath the anime window was one open to a chat forum. It seemed she had sent off a message before I walked in, as the post her avatar was next to was ratcheting up the window as replies and debate pushed it up. A lot of them... yikes, the joke about filthy degenerates has basis. If anything, it's downplaying it.

"Would you mind telling me why you're writing trash when you should be working?" I asked, allowing a harsh edge to creep into my tone. The research ship froze, carefully glancing up, paling faster than a Marine recruit faced with a superior officer, and frantically tried to shut the offending windows down.

"Why Admiral, I had no idea, I must have clicked on an ad somewhere, silly me, these darn pop up sites why won't it close?!" She frantically tried to divert my attention from the windows that were, indeed, not closing.

"So when's the holonet release?" I asked flatly. That was her cue to stop, slump over in defeat, and turn around. She wasn't in her usual outfit, instead wearing pajamas with moon patterns on them.

"..." I sighed. This shit was so far out of my wheelhouse it was in an entirely separate arm of the galaxy.

Jesus, why me?

"Look, I'm fine with you having... extracurricular hobbies, but don't let it interfere with your work, okay?" I said, placing my hand on her shoulder. She nodded timidly. I sighed again. I turned to leave, before smirking and glancing back at Luna.

"Also, if I turn up in one of those, I expect royalties."

I whistled as the door closing behind me cut off the science shipgirl's sputtering, setting off down the hall at a brisk pace. When I passed Aether's door, I stopped.

"And here I thought I only had one pervert on base. Hopefully I don't get called in for possible molestation of minors charges." I said.

The loud thud in the room behind me did not put a large smirk on my face.

The new shipgirls I mentioned earlier arrived. As it turns out, there's a reason they only sent two.

"Hi there, Admiral!" One of them, Yuudachi chirped, saluting with one hand while the other lugged a fucking rotary cannon.

"One… last… bit…" The other, Yuudachi, muttered as she made a few tweaks to a goddamn armor frame. For what? I don't fucking know, I'm questioning where she got a SPARTAN armor frame.

My eye twitched as I rigidly pointed towards the science division. The both of them went off like the kids they resembled with their pet projects.

Aether would get a kick out of them.

"Thrust!" I barked. Tenryuu did so. I then kicked her shin. "Don't commit fully unless you know you're going to hit!"

"Geez, you make it sound so easy…" The light cruiser grumbled as she attempted a high chop that I ducked and countered with a front kick.

"That's because it is, cupcake!" I snarled. I held my arms out to my sides, taunting her. "Come on then!"

"Fine!" She charged forward, intent to shoving her energy katana straight into my gut.

Except for the bit where I moved, dodged a clumsy attempt to redirect, and brought a fist down on the back of her neck, dropping her like a stone.

"Well… You're at least learning." I sighed, reaching down to help her up. "You have to remember that occasionally there's Abyssals skilled with the blade out there, and they aren't weak to your Warriors-game style."

"I know that." Tenryuu deactivated her sword and hung the hilt of from her belt. "I just don't know why you kicking my ass is considered 'training'."

"You haven't been in the military long, have you?" I deadpanned. She glared at me.

"Not physically, no."

"Then suck it up, buttercup." I said. Equinox pinging me on my comm was probably the only thing keeping me from having her go again. But I've got a sortie to plot.

"Alright, we're moving deeper into the Sector." Equinox pointed out. She had a visualization above my desk while pointing to it. Subsectors Charlie and Delta were currently highlighted. "Satellite and laser imaging is still being blocked in Echo and Foxtrot, so I think that narrows down the options for 'main base'".

"Right, but charging into either would be suicide." I said. "What are Charlie and Delta looking like?"

"Charlie so far has only had that marauding group cleaned up." Equinox zoomed in on two particular points of interest. "This first one, a little closer to us in the SC Cluster, is another patrol, but with what looks like even stronger types. I think one of them may have battleship-level weaponry, they're all above light cruiser firepower, however."

"How's the Science Division's MAC research going?" I asked. The Smart AI grimaced.

"Not good. They've made some progress… but the prototypes are still too big and power requiring."

"Hmmm… and the other points of interest?"

"I've confirmed the presence of an Installation-Type, on a small planet orbiting Theta Scorpii." The image shown was much like that of the last Installation, Anchored Planet Princess (who, in pattern, demanded be called Anchorage), only with a load more orbital batteries and activity. While the base itself received a steady supply of lower Abyssal types, one of them stood out, almost looking like an Abyssal version of Bismarck. "I've tentatively dubbed her 'Starfield Princess', since her planet is near a binary star and located near a few other stars in the area."

"I see." I nodded.

"Next, we have the other elephant in the sector." This time, an Abyssal version of Iowa flashed up on screen. "Battleship Princess. She has the same approximate armament of the four Iowa sisters, and is efficient at using it. I'm recommending we approach her with a Danger Close threat level. Fortunately, she's alone, but sending more than a small group risks unnecessary friendly fire."

"Wonderful." I muttered, lacing my fingers and planting my elbows on the table. How do we solve the problem of three high-threat targets on our relative front doorstep?

"I think going for Starfield Princess is likely suicide, even if we throw the whole fleet at her." Equinox chipped in. "Battleship Princess could probably be taken by dogpiling her. The easiest to take out would probably be that patrol squad."

"So we have our targets, then." I said. "Let's send Iowa in with some backup to take care of Battleship Princess. Texas can take some other girls and deal with our renegade patrol."

"Of course." Equinox began to type on her screens, sending messages off to the shipgirls that would be sortieing.

I leaned back in my chair. The feeling of anticipation was back, and arguably worse than two days ago.

So I composed an email….

As it turned out, I was correct to be anticipating something bad.

Several girls came back with pretty bad injury. Among others, an Ashford missing an arm, Kongo coated in blood, the works.

But we were missing someone.

Hibiki.

According to Inazuma, Tenryuu had been targeted by Battleship Princess, but Hibiki had flown in front of her and taken the blast herself. They hadn't found a body.

The rest of DesDiv 6 was miserable, and we tried to give them as much space as they needed.

As for Tenryuu, their official-unofficial caretaker?

She shut herself in her room. A lot of yelling and breaking followed. Then silence.

When I went in after a while, she was face down on her bed, with the rest of the room bearing various sword marks. Nothing too important was broken or melted, but I could tell she'd had a lot of anger to work out.

All I saw in her visible eye was despair, but she didn't argue when I pulled her up by her forearm and walked out, dragging her behind me without a word.

Something not very many of the shipgirls knew was that there was an observation deck, quite ostensibly for observing the space around the station. It also came equipped with benches.

Tenryuu and I sat on one, an empty bottle of vodka on the ground at her feet, and another one clutched in her hand. I had been planning on drinking with her, but when she had drained her bottle before I'd even got to mine, I just passed it over. We didn't speak.

Once she was halfway through the bottle, she raised her head up. "How did it feel to lose people under your charge." It was more of a statement than a question, but it was one nonetheless.

"At first?" I said. "Like you. Like I failed on a personal level." Absently, I rubbed my side. "Goddamn Brute came at us with a Gravity Hammer. Private Second Class Jackson… well, he jumped in front of me before the monkey could get me. I got the shockwave… he got splattered."

"And?"

"I killed that fucker there." I said. My voice had gone very flat, but it did that. "Then I picked that hammer up and went to town on anything else that wasn't friendly. All things considered, that was probably what persuaded me to join the ODSTs."

"I see." Tenryuu was probably too far gone to really notice, but I still grasped her shoulder lightly.

"But I got over it. He may have been the first man I lost in the line of duty, but he wasn't the last. He knew the risks, we all did. Fight and die or die anyways."

"... I was distracted with some smaller Abyssals ganging up on me. Battleship Princess fired at me… and she just took all the shells for me." Hibki must have detonated them all, then. Tenryuu slugged her drink. "By the time I heard her scream… she was gone."

We stayed silent after that. Eventually, she finished the bottle. Apparently, that was just enough to tip her into unconsciousness. So she slumped onto my shoulder.

I let her stay there a while before dragging her back down to her room and hauling her onto her bed.

Just because it was a while ago doesn't mean we forget.

Here we go, another chapter done. Finally. I suppose I got complacent with the buffer. Well, uh, I guess not now.

Anyways, blah blabity I'm going to write more, thank you for patience, all that garbage, blah.

The baseline of the scene with Aether (which I believe is most of the chapter's read time) came about from a conversation with KCNederland where we were discussing future interactions with her, Luna, and the Yuudachi twins. He mentioned she was really into anime, so I went to the logical weeby conclusion.

I can do this because I myself am a mild weeb, therefore it's self-parody.

Oh, and MCC is coming to PC. That's cool.

That is all.

And I blame my Discord friends for distracting me with TF2 and RWBY respectively. No I'm not linking the server I'm on.