It was lunch time the next day as the two students were busy talking about how their days were going so far. Naomi was getting her lunch as Brook was just grabbing anything that was green or just a vegetable that she could get her hands on. Naomi looked at her.
"Now you don't want to over indulge yourself on just greens, you need other food in your life." Naomi told her. Brook soon stopped grabbing as she knew some water would be fine.
"Do you want me to get a dorm with a kitchen in it and I can cook all of my own meals?" Brook asked, wondering if she would be able to take care of herself. Naomi looked at her as if the girl was crazy.
"Uhh we don't have those in our dorms but based on your skills, I guess you can try to pack your own meals and possibly survive on 40 euros for 3 weeks on your limited budget." Naomi told her as they went to go sit down at the table. Brook just laughed as she knew that money was more than enough.
"40 euros, 3 weeks, that is what I call a good month. Let's try 50 euros for a whole month." Brook thought that money was what she called a good month. Naomi looked at her as she sat down. The girls began digging into their lunch as someone decided to not choose anything dense as mainly went with low calorie food. Soon the notifications began ringing as they wanted someone: Brook Taylor, to the Student Council's Office, this instant. "What the Blin do they want?" She soon got up as she began making her way to the office.
She soon opened the doors as she walked in wondering what did they want? Inside was Kay as well as Alisa as Naomi was on her way. Kay looked at her with dissatisfaction.
"You know why you are here?" Kay asked as Brook nodded no, was she in trouble or what was it that they wanted. One of the older students soon spoke.
"Who in the fucking ass world picks the music program? I mean who, don't say you've chosen that just because you want a boring time in Saunders. No we're the best. We have everything that you could possibly want. And these programs are something a lazy person would want. So how about this, I choose the program you will be in and then I can get the first meeting together this afternoon?" She shouted as it was clear she wasn't going to tolerate the freshmen from dodging the deal and soon presented her with a deal. Brook backed off as she nodded no as Naomi came in. "Join this program and I will promise nothing has happened." Kay looked at her as she was appearing to be scaring her.
"Hey can you calm down, you might run a risk of scaring students away. I mean I would want them to enjoy themselves while they are here." Kay told the girl as she was giving the girl shivers down her spine. Kay soon began to speak. "I Formally apologize, the student who is yelling at you is Himari, she's the 12th grade lead of the Student Council. I'm set to inherit the position as soon as she graduates." Kay looked at her as Naomi soon walked up to the desk as she wanted to formally apologize.
"Sorry for running late, I was supervising the girl when you called her in here. What exactly do you say you wanted to put her in?" Naomi asked as she wanted to give the girl her own choice of freedom to make her own path. Kay looked at her superior who was in the 12th grade as she was the boss around here.
"I understand as we had to address the girl that her programs are garbage, so I'm selecting the program that she would be the most comfortable joining. She soon began to decide on where she needed to be and then ultimately sealed her fate. "Good news Brook, you're now part of the Sensha-Do program." She turned as the program she had chosen had a picture of a tank on it. Brook began shaking as it was clear Himari wanted her to go to war. Brook soon began taking a few steps backwards as these steps got quicker and more frequent, it was clear she was afraid of something. Naomi turned to Kay and as Alisa was happily watching her.
"You know, she might be scared of something. She's never been in a tank or even fired a gun. Her father doesn't want her anywhere near those things." Naomi expressed her concerns as she wanted to treat the girl with gentleness. Kay turned to her as she wanted to say something to her vice commander.
"The girl needs to stop being so sheltered in since her little daddy isn't going to be there to protect her. She needs to learn to fight and fight, she will do." Kay smiled as Naomi thought she was insane. But she had no other choice. Himari looked at her deviously as she smiled.
"Right on Kay. See you'll become like me as we do this for our needs, if anyone speaks out, forget that." Himari looked at her as she was speaking to her about this. Kay wasn't too sure about this.
"Well I do agree that she needs to get out and learn that the world isn't a nice place but I don't think censoring this would be a good idea. This is Saunders, Free speech is what matters." Kay told her as Himari gave her a stare as she looked at Kay telling her to not stand in her way.
"Well if you're forced to conscripting her into your team, then take me with you." Naomi told them as she made her request clear. Kay puts on some shades as she knows the plan.
"Full throttle democracy is the plan for this match, the other teams have oil." Kay told them as she knew the first meeting was today. Naomi sighed as she knew that she needed to address this to the student. Himari looked at Kay as she didn't like this.
"Enough with that Democracy Kay, this is a school we're talking about and we best have authority over the students." Himari hissed as she wasn't too fond of her plans.
The afternoon came as the team was having their first meeting of the year. Kay walked up and down as she rounded up everyone that she could manage to use her methods on to get them to sign up. Naomi stood next to Brook as she was nervous about this. Alisa was also a first year student but she was becoming favorable to Kay. She soon stopped as she looked at them as she began to explain.
"Welcome fellow tankers to the Sensha-Do team of Saunders, since we have the largest arsenal of tanks, I would like to team you up with all of you as I will explain the basics with the groups. She soon split off as she began sorting the teams into drivers, loaders, gunners and radio operators. Commanders were the more experienced team members as they were mostly Juniors and Seniors. Kay was the exception to this as she looked at the students as she began assigning. "Alisa, Radio operator, Naomi, Loader, Brook, Gunner." Brook gulped as she got her position to serve on the tank. The three other students looked at each other as Kay soon returned with them as she had the positions she wanted them to command from. You three will be riding with me. Now come on. We're going to have fun today." Kay told them as she looked at them especially. They soon headed to one of the Sherman tanks as the driver began to bring the mighty iron beast to life. Alisa was excited as Kay Climbed in, Naomi seemed unnerved by this but Brook was shaking a bit as she seemed scared. Naomi turned her head to her.
"Listen, I will try to get you out of this program if the higher ups allow it. I think if we should be able to get through these next few days together if we decide to do this carefully." Naomi told her as she wanted the student to be much more comfortable like saying it wasn't all that bad. She puts a hand on Brook's side to keep her shaking from being noticed. Kay looked down as Alisa had the radios working.
"Okay Ya'll, hand me some high explosive shells as we got a target coming down range." Kay ordered as these targets were wooden cut-outs of many different animals as Brook was looking down the sights of her barrel. It was clear these were fake and wood was a cheap and plentiful material. Though the designs posed to be a real animal it was clear that they weren't fully painted and marked with target marks for the gunners fire. Naomi loaded the breach in as Kay looked at Brook. "Fire!" Brook soon turned away as her face was fidgeting with fear. She never fired a weapon like this before. She squeezed the trigger as she feared destroying a wooden cut out. The HE shell flew along as the firecracker round shattered on the bear cut out. Brook looked up as she knew she had destroyed the cut out. Even though it was wood, they could get more. However if it was Svetlana, she wouldn't go through with it. Soon another one came up in the shape of a tiger. Naomi loaded the HE shell up as Kay was looking out of her periscope as she lightly shoved Brook. "Fire!" Brook closed her eyes as she fired fearing for the target. The HE shell flew as it demolished the target. The gunner opened her eyes as Naomi looked at her.
"She looks a little upset; I guess the cut-outs are making her upset." Naomi expressed her concern but Kay didn't seem to care.
"Come on they're just wooden cut-outs, they aren't real, it's not like the student is going to become a mass murder later in her life." Kay told Naomi as she didn't really care. Naomi soon then decided to ask her this.
"Well, if she is this unstable, then why did you force her to join the team in the first place?" Naomi asked, she was soon cut off when a fire as Brook had to destroy another wooden cut out. Kay turned to her when she was finished.
"Look we need to teach the girl not to be so sheltered in, maybe she'll turn out to be a good team player and she'll like this instead of following notes on a sheet of paper, she needs to learn to make her own choices." Kay responded. Naomi looked at her as she began to speak.
"I know that but don't you think this is a bit much?" Naomi asked, wondering if it would be overwhelming for the student. Kay turned to her as she had two words as she didn't want to be asked anymore questions sensing they still had a task to focus on.
"Shut, up." Kay responded as she didn't want to be questioned any longer as she thought now wasn't a good time. The tanks soon met up as they all parked themselves as the crews got out as Kay looked at them. "You all did good but as far as first time students, we should make some adjustments to make their skills better. She soon handed the students a sheet of paper outlying on what they needed to get to make their skills better. "The 62nd national high school Sensha-Do Tournament is coming up soon and we need to prepare as much as possible if we are going to win." Kay soon got up as she left. Naomi went after her but Brook decided to wander off on her own.
Having not seen enough of the school ship, she decided to make her way to the lower parts of the ship as if she was looking for something. Soon she came to a door as she soon nudged it open, it was a bar of some sort as she wandered in curious about what it had to offer. She had a long day and she was looking for something to drink. One of the students that was running the place looked up at her.
"You seem pretty exhausted. May I take you up on anything?" The girl asked as she was polishing a glass. Brook looked out and spotted a bottle of light beer. She soon noticed this as she began asking for her. "One shot of light beer?" She asked. Brook nodded as she soon poured her some. Brook soon began to drink the shot glass down as it was good, she never had anything like this before.
"Make it, one glass." Brook responded. The girl nodded as she was given a glass, the bartender soon looked at her as she was pouring the beer down to the girl as she was wondering what exactly brought her here.
"So why did you come to this location in the first place?" She asked as she was wondering about the exchange student coming here. Brook looked at her as she began to drink.
"The overall mood of Saunders is depressing, they just sort you into a program that you aren't fond of. I was terrified of the training session that the commander gave us, I don't want to go around and shoot things up. That's not how we should be able to carry out our orders." Brook told her as she told her about her day. The student looked at her as she began speaking.
"Yes Saunders used to be cool, just a couple years ago we were a thriving student hub as we had students from many different backgrounds come here and the overall atmosphere is a friendly and welcoming school where everyone got along. When Kay arrived, it all went downhill, cultural identity was gone, students of color have all but vanished much to Himari's dismay, and we're getting sicker as Kay continues throwing parties for no reason at all. We do throw parties but only on certain occasions but the overall students do not like this at all. Over the past year or so, the student number dropped significantly as all the students are either transferring or just leaving completely, I just want the old school back. Himari says: Students of color matter." The girl told Brook as she was finished with her glass of beer. Brook looked up as she wanted to ask.
"Does this mean that Kay is a racist bigot?" Brook asked. The girl looked at her as she began to speak.
"I wouldn't go that far to say that but in a sense, she kind of is. Himari doesn't like her that much but this is sadly her last year as she managed to keep the entire school in line and expects everyone to always be ready. The older students are asking her to tone these down and bring back the old way of the school but she has ignored them. Hell I hear some of the students that come here talk about revolution to try to change the school. Don't know if you seem interested but they seem to hang out in these lower parts of the ship." She told them as she was cleaning the glass. Brook got up as she had finished the second glass.
"Well thank you so much for this. I promise I'll come back another night. Tell me when the meeting of this so-called group is, I seem interested." Brook told her as she slipped her the phone number so she could be notified and attend. She picked it up as she knew they had one more member for the cause. "What is her name by the way?"
"Yuri, she is an old friend to Himari but they both have opposing views but they're working towards a common goal. Yuri keeps the authority to herself." The girl working the bar responded as she watched the student stumble away somewhat wasted.
Brook soon went into her dorm as she fell asleep. With today behind her, she was looking forward to tomorrow. In the dream it seemed completely different as she was on a ship his time as they were docked in port at night time.
"Well it seems that we will expand our influence into Korea soon afterward as we saw this as a golden opportunity to expand. Now with the railroad complete, we should be able to ferry goods to the location." One of the sailors told the other as he was mopping the decks.
"Yeah I see, it is something that the czar himself would be very proud of. We should be able to negotiate with the empress after the whole Boxer Rebellion happened. Once this is done we should keep expanding peacefully… what's that sound?" He soon paused as he dropped his mop, in the dead of night, two destroyer boats were approaching and in the dark they were hard to spot. The crew ran up and down the decks as they were scared for their lives. Soon the destroyer boats opened fire as their shells flew. The sailors began opening searchlights as they were trying to find the destroyers that were opening fire. "Where the hell are they?!" Soon a whirl from another shot flew by as it was clear that more shells were followed along with the whirl of oncoming torpedoes. The ships were docked in for the night so they couldn't move out. Some of the smaller vessels went out to engage the smaller ships while the aft guns of the larger battleships fired as they were trying to get the destroyers. The destroyers slipped off into the night to not be seen.
"Wow, we panicked over something like this?" The older sailor asked as it was clear that these destroyers were out for blood, have they gone rogue? Did China scratch build a fleet and were after them? Questions were racing through the head. The smaller vessels returned as the captain stepped off as he began to speak.
"Those destroyers were Japanese and they attacked us in Port Arthur. War is imminent." The captain stated. Things were only going to get worse.
[A/N]: More plot and development for you all. I hope you're enjoying this so far as we need to keep this ball rolling. Hopefully we can get more views for the future and hopefully some reviews. The Saunders problem is showing up and will only get worse from here on out. That is all.
Edit, was originally going to make Kay the aggressive one that has to grow up into the character that she was but outside opinion caused me to have to split that into two characters so now we got pressure by three sides.