I was slightly surprised when Atago wasn't in the office this morning, but I figured she was just late.
I was more surprised when Takao showed up instead.
"Good morning, teitoku." She said, bowing after entering, then walking over to the secretary's desk.
"Morning Takao." I replied. "Atago not coming in today?"
"Today is the monthly rotation day." She said, and sure enough, it was. Time passes fast.
"I see." I glanced at my computer to confirm that the arrival message was there, then gestured out. "Follow me."
"Requesting Akagi, Atago, Ayanami, Kaga, South Dakota, and Z23 report to the hangar bay. Repeat, Akagi, Atago, Ayanami, Kaga, South Dakota, Z23 to hangar bay." I stated through the intercom, Takao and I already striding towards it.
"Why are we calling them there?" Takao asked. "Don't operations usually depart from an airlock?"
"No." I flexed my right arm slightly. "I have something there now that might just make my job a little bit easier. And I need to reacquaint myself with commanding ships, so a small group works best for now." The heavy cruiser considered this, then nodded.
Soon enough, we arrived. The hangar was empty, mostly. A few autonomous cargo carriers were stored there for recharge. But the real draw was the Pelican, already facing the airlock, ready for action.
I waited for all of the ships to arrive before addressing them.
"Alright. Now that we're resuming combat sorties, I will be accompanying all of them. This Pelican" I rapped the vehicle with my knuckles. "Will double as our transport to the target zone and as the command vessel. From here, I'll give orders, observe your combat performance, and direct you all. Is that understood?" I asked, folding my hands behind my back. Six nods answered my statement. "Good. Everyone, aboard. Takao, you may return to your duties."
Takao started. "I am not coming?"
"No. I need someone to keep tabs on the base while I'm gone." I said. "I entrust this responsibility to you."
The heavy cruiser nodded, then saluted. "I shall not let you down, shikikan."
"Excellent." I nodded, then turned and opened the hatch on the Pelican. While normally Pelicans were only vacuum vehicles if you were wearing EVA gear or SPARTAN armor, this one had been modified with it's own artificial gravity and atmospheric controls. The rear drop hatch had been extended and separated from the main compartment with an airlock bulkhead, which would let the ships take off without me having to worry about the effects of spacing like a certain former Office of Naval Intelligence Admiral I had watched asphyxiate and explode from the pressure at the same time.
I was told it was a real bitch to clean when the airlock was cycled again.
Anyways, we were all aboard, myself at the controls and the shipgirls in the main compartment, strapped in. I keyed the ignition sequence, opened the hangar doors (protected from depressurization via atmo shields, thanks Sangheili), and guided the Pelican out into the darkness of Sector Alpha. Keying in the coordinates for our targets, I fired the engines.
Off we go.
Has it really been five months already? How time flies.
Anyways, I've done some thinking, and I've decided upon a course of action. I don't like how this story was written. At all. So I'm going to (again) exercise the nuclear option. Only this time I'm not leaving behind what used to be (mainly because dear god most of it is complete ass). To put it like this, I'm going to go through and review every chapter up to a certain point* and delete any I feel are either too insignificant or unsalvageable. Once I've done that, I'll begin rewriting the chapters left. Below will be a list of chapters that will be rewritten and their status as such. When chapters are rewritten, I'll post an update chapter and update their status on the list. Any new chapters written before the rewrites are done will include the list, which will be deleted from previous chapters not including this one. In as many words, I'm pulling another Re: Project RWBY but without making it a new story because it's not going to be a complete overhaul like that was (and yes, I have been working on that story too. It's been coming and going.)
With that, I'm also going to be (finally) uploading this story to AO3. Chapters will be uploaded starting where the rewrite stops, and the rewritten chapters will be posted as new there.
Sorry for the text wall, I'm writing this trying to go to sleep.
The Rewrite List:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
See you in another half year. At this rate I'll finish this by the time I'm 40!