Chapter 6: New Base, New Life…?
December 10,1941 0500H UTC +11
Waters adjacent to designated base
The ocean and air calm over this area in the equator, a huge Union-based fleet steams towards a certain location just as the rays of the sun started peeking out of the horizon. The members of this group welcomed the peace brought about by this scenery, which was different from the one they've been in nearly two days ago.
Already awake on a certain ship's bridge were three individuals. The shipgirl, Pennsylvania, was leaning on the east-facing windows as they sailed to the southwest, watching the sunrise. Her officers, Captain Charles West and Commander Lauren Mitchell, have been discussing stuff the fleet admiral told the two about the base. Occasionally they would use oculars and look at the radar to check on the location, but since both have not seen anything so far, they decided to plan for the activities once they settled on the base.
Penn called to her officer, "Captain, it has been hours after you finished reading all of those documents… will the two of you be fine with not sleeping?"
"Don't mind me, Miss Penn. I admit I'm excited about the base, as this would be 'something entirely different' as the admiral said," Charles replied to her.
Lauren added, "you know, it's also a good change in our routines. And as his executive officer, I took the liberty of doing other stuff in place of the captain here busy with all research we brought aboard. It's not like we don't want to sleep, it's just we better do what we can do."
As the two restarted their broken conversation, Laffey radioed to all ships on the fleet, "everyone… sorry Laffey was… (yawn)… asleep, but Laffey found multiple islands straight ahead. We're near... probably."
"Helena, please check your radar, send our ID to the direction of the formation Laffey mentioned. Penn, check for visual. Vestal, Tennessee, how is Nevada's and California's ship holding up?" Charles got up and rapidly gave out orders to fleet members.
"Well, captain, both are still above water, although I am not certain if the two of us can continue tugging them beyond half an hour," Vestal answered.
Charles, completing the location plot with Lauren onboard, said, "just hold out there. Or if you want, we can have the others help you pull because we're approaching the naval base in less than fifteen minutes with our current speed."
She returned a "yes, sir!" before her two human superiors continued their plans for them and their soon-to-be home, as Pennsylvania received a call. Knowing the only person with her telephone codes, she held it on her ear and listened to the message, before dropping the call.
Then she spoke up, "captain, the admiral called. He's safe and the base is completed as he 'planned', Helena has also picked up the homing beacon and she's giving the vectors to us. He told us to dock along the left coastline of the northernmost island base from a south-to-north approach and a tugboat group will pull California and Nevada to the dry docks."
"All right, then. All hands, follow vector to the base, and prepare for unloading and mooring to the piers!" Charles said over the radio, now confirming the island group and its' structures through the binoculars, reaching the entrance to the base a few minutes later.
As soon as they approach the base, eight tugboats manned by… chickens?... met the fleet, and Charles can only look as they accurately positioned the tugs beside Nevada and California, releasing the moorings on Vestal and Tennessee and attached it to the tugs on their own, before pulling the battleships towards the direction of what looks like a dry dock system. The two ladies felt ascertain of what the tiny creatures were, sharing the same sentiments with their commander.
Each shipgirl peered out of their ship's bridge to see a uniquely designed base. A mixture of architectural designs were shown in the four islands that serve as the base itself. From the radar station, battery housings, even the docks give off the feeling that this isn't comparable to the naval bases they visited before. Comments and reactions flung over the radio as they shared their thoughts on the landscape in front of them.
And standing on the pier was a person he recognized, and behind him were girls carrying tools far larger than themselves, wrenches, hammers, blowtorches, rivets, drills, grinders… He can only guess they were shipgirls, but nothing more than that.
"Everyone, can you confirm what those… things… behind the admiral are?" Lauren said as she read Charles' confusion, to which they can only reply, "no, ma'am" and a few others said "first time I've seen those".
Moments later, each ship moored to the piers and all personnel started transferring their cargo to the concrete docks. Admiral McCall walked with the girls behind him as Charles, Lauren, and Pennsylvania completed unloading research documents and a few equipment off the ship. The rest of the shipgirls gathered behind the trio, unaware of what to do next.
"Welcome to Azur Lane Naval Station 'Frontier', ladies and... gentleman. This is the last stronghold of the Azur Lane after the tragedy that fell over our previous base, set aside central command. From this moment onward, this shall be your permanent home," McCall told them, and the girls behind him saluted towards the newly-arrived group.
The shipgirls bowed and replied, "yes, sir!", but Charles and Lauren, knowledgeable of nothing beyond the location and infrastructures of the base, harbored doubts to the admiral's greetings.
Charles started, "Thank you, sir, but… mind explaining to us who these ladies are before we call central command's military police for child slavery and animal cruelty?"
McCall choked at his accusations, before answering, "Ah… umm… well, you see, these here are the Universal Bulin division, according to them. And I know you figured it out before you went down here, but they were also a result of the shipgirl research program.
I called them a division because they are, in the form of construction ships, and they were half of the construction manpower here. The other half are the yellow creatures that manned the tugs pulling two of our damaged ships. Well, I'll tell the specifics later, but let's take a tour. Bulins, you're to fix the ships on the dry docks for today unless I or the captain here call for you. Once you're done, the day is yours."
"Buli! Thank you, Admiral! Buli ~" the 'bulin' beside the admiral replied, as the twenty behind her went with her and ran towards the direction of the dry docks.
"Admiral, I'll have Vestal and a few others carry the unconscious ladies to the hospital before we start this tour. Girls, Vestal and I will need help carrying our patients. We'll need ten more. The rest of you, help each other unload our equipment and packages and ask the admiral where those would be placed," Charles told his superior.
"Alright, son. Destroyers, I need hands to carry everyone's personal belongings to your rooms. Let's get to work," McCall concurred.
Charles, Lauren, Vestal, the two battleships, and seven cruisers went to carry the six from Vestal's medical bay. They were helped by a bunch of the yellow creatures they saw earlier in pulling the IV poles of each shipgirl, and arranged the lighting and ventilation inside the intensive care section of the hospital in an efficient manner, and they can only watch in awe.
As soon as they were finished, Helena, Saint Louis, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee remained on the hospital and helped Vestal in setting up her office and in managing the still-comatose girls, as the rest of them went with Charles and provided aid to the unloading and arrangement of items.
It was noon when they finished all tasks, and the admiral invited them all, including the temporary hospital crew, to ride the PT boats to the center island, where the canteen is located. Just as they landed near the beach, the scent of spices filled the air, and everyone held back drooling when they were in front of the canteen's entrance.
McCall turned to the crowd behind him and spoke, "Everyone ready? I hope no one holds back eating. To be honest, this is the first time I'll be expecting good food from a naval base. As soon as this door opens, pick your tables, and… go!"
He and Charles swung the doors open, revealing large servings of steak, sandwiches, pasta, rice, hotdogs, grilled meat, burgers, and salads on each long table, capable of seating at least ten on each of its' side. The admiral, Charles, and Lauren rushed to the nearest table, just as the 'chickens' withdrew to the kitchen counter and watched the shipgirls picking seats and placed large amounts of food on their plates.
"Mhmm… This steak tastes too good! Even better than fine dining restaurants back in the mainland!" the admiral said as he finished a piece of thick beef steak.
Charles agreed, "I think I'll be full and still eat all of these! The hotdogs and grilled meat are soooo delicious! Lauren, if you're afraid of getting fat, give us those meat in your plate!"
"Uhh nope, I'll be eating to my heart's content, you know? And besides ~ if it comes to eating meat, I won't lose to anyone, captain!" Lauren answered his challenge.
As they ate, the creatures roamed around with a tray carrier, gallons of water and fruit juices given to those who wanted one and to the gluttonous shipgirls that choked after eating too much in one go.
Happily finished their meal ten minutes later, Charles and Scott called on Lauren, still on her way to eating her last salad serving, "Lauren, you owe us two hundred! Ha-ha-ha-ha!", as the lady made a defeated expression while chewing the last of the cabbage pieces on the salad.
The tables now empty, the fleet helped the creatures clean up the canteen, and headed out into the PT boats for their long-awaited tour around the base, led by the fleet admiral himself.
"All right, as you saw, the center island contains the canteen, and the building behind it is our command office, and guest area. Those would be it… for now. The island on the west contains our research facility, oil refinery and storage tanks, ammunition depot, shipyard, and the dry docks as well. The Bulins and the yellow creatures you saw reside and work from there. By the way, those creatures call themselves Manjuu, so don't call them chickens, as those are different.
The one on the north, where your ships are docked, is the largest and the highest on the base. The dormitories, hospital, docks, radar station, and the white-sand beach is here as well. The airfield, primary communications array, and power plant are on the west side."
Helena, forced by the destroyers behind her, asked their question, "admiral, we haven't seen batteries and AA positions in any of the islands… are we to solely rely on our ships in defending the base?"
Charles and Lauren nodded in agreement to the question, as McCall answered her, "we implemented a system of designs and camouflaging to avoid early detection of base defenses. Hmm… look at the west island, just behind the first line of trees on the north-facing cliff. There is a single sixteen-inch gun there, mounted on a contraption that makes it disappear on the pit it is on. And if you look on the side of the hill in the north island, a 40mm Bofors gun is placed on a shallow pit, camouflaged to make it look like trees. Don't you worry, the Manjuu can handle manning them all."
Most of the girls in the trip went "ooh" to the admiral's explanation, much to his surprise, but nevertheless carried on.
The whole trip took almost two hours as they went closer to each section of the base before they reached the docks on the north island to retire for the day. Charles bode the shipgirls a good night as the three officers went to the center island into the command office.
"All right, both of you, welcome to your command center. This is the central hub of operations for base and fleet operations. I've been assigned in charge of Azur Lane's global operations, so, Captain Charles West, you are hereby designated as the fleet commander of our naval arm, and base commander of this installation. Lieutenant Commander, no, Commander Lauren Mitchell is your executive officer and chief operations officer," McCall told the two as soon as they stepped inside the building.
"We're honored, sir. However… would you elaborate on specific duties we need to perform?" Charles asked him as they arrived on what looks like a briefing room with him closing the door.
The admiral paused for a few seconds before he replied, "to start off, you have full control over fleet activities, including combat engagement and missions to perform. In all circumstances facing against enemy shipgirls, disarm them first before capture and integration to the fleet. I'll send classified documents regarding their capabilities later, as I deem it you can use the information in a better way than I could.
Also, we're not using Union bills in transactions. We have Azur Lane coins, and valuable red gems. A few thousand of those are in store in the treasury room you can find later. I told you this because the coins have five times the exchange, and the gems have fifty times more value against the Royal currency, which you know is the most powerful state currency as of now, and that I want you to make the base sustainable through commissions."
Lauren then interjected, "commissions, sir? It's not that I am against it, but would there be groups needing such aid from us?"
"I also didn't but, yes. The waters around the world have become too dangerous from the war and from sudden Siren attacks, so a lot of seafaring companies have reached out to us to have our forces safeguard transports, cargo ships, the like," McCall answered her, before continuing, "and your new position allows you to decide on what commissions to accept and not, and which shipgirl to send. I'll also hand the list of guaranteed companies that have signed up for our services, so expect some calls at least a week from now.
Next up, you are to participate in missions delegated by central command, and you can opt to cooperate with missions from any allied faction, either by sending a group or directly participating on it. I'm already feeling the excitement you have from what I said, so I recommend implementing a secretary system for your ships. Train them to be able to handle base operations. Of course you can shuffle your secretary ships, try to give all of them the capacity to decide for the well-being of their fellows.
And you can train them as well within nearby waters. I don't recommend fleet problems devised by the Union, as they don't really hold true during combat. Supply ships from three ports will also drop off their load to this base twice a month, so check the manifest and contents as well. And yes, paperworks are trivial but a necessary evil. Any mission request that passed through my office will be sent to you for approval. The same goes with commissions. Large-scale base renovations need justification to central command, so do them as well.
The other important operation is research. We need breakthroughs to shipgirl development, and anything you discover, send it to us as well. We'll try reproducing them over the science division. I've talked to allied nations, so all wisdom cubes and mental shards, as called by our experts, they found will be sent to you. I guess that's all. Did you get it?"
Charles raised his note pad, as Lauren spoke up, "well admiral, if he wrote it down, that means the captain remembers it."
"Good work. Okay then, let me lead you to your office, and back to your quarters," McCall ended the talks as he opened the door of the briefing room and led the two towards the second floor of the building.
As soon as the admiral opened the door to his office, Charles and Lauren whistled in satisfaction to the layout of his office: spacious, but comfortable; light fills all corners of the sky blue-painted room, as a large window appears behind what looks like his station, two more workstations arranged for Lauren and what he suppose is for his secretary, with the Azur Lane insignia on a flag mounted on the wall.
A few potted plants are near each wooden table, the window looks regal with a gold-colored rope and a red curtain, and adjacent to the room is another similarly-themed room with bookshelves, a telephone, a sofa set with a glass table in the middle.
"Whoa… This is different from your office aboard Langley's. It suits better to a country's leader, but I don't mind… no, I'll enjoy working here!" Charles said after taking in the features of his office.
Lauren smiled and said, "same, I won't care how long, 'cause this really puts any working person at ease. This is soooo comfortable…"
The reactions of his two officers made Scott satisfied, before saying, "hope you liked the designs. Well then, your rooms are next to each other on the ground floor, left wing. I've taken the liberty of moving your personal affects to the rooms, and I bet you'll even like the rooms better than the office.
"Well then, I'll be leaving the base to you. The B-17 I rode yesterday is waiting for me. I'll be heading to central command to report the Pearl Harbor attack, and the status of our base and fleet. I'll call you on the phone if I'm not visiting on the first Monday of each month, and don't forget the paperwork. And, before I forget, I'll visit in a week, heard that Nimitz is fleet admiral of CINCPACFLT now, and I'll bring him here with Halsey. See you by then. Oh… can you place these in the PT boat and bring me to the airfield?"
The two gave him a "yes, sir" before they carried his suitcases to the PT boat, and Charles drove it to the airfield after the admiral secured himself to a seat.
"Sir, can you unload a few cars when you return?"
"Why is that?"
"Too much oil spent on PT boats, sir. I want all of those for the ladies alone, so I'm planning to get bridges built to and from the command post."
"Very well. I'll bring what I can. At least one. And consider that bridge project approved. I'll be the one explaining to central command, so don't send the papers for that except for any expense. To hell with my planning, I even forgot about that."
The lone plane on the airfield has just finished pre-flight checks when the three arrived. Unloading and transferring the admiral's belongings to the plane, the two bode him farewell as they saw the B-17 taxi and fly to the direction of the Union homeland.
As soon as they were bound to return to the boat however, they saw one of the yellow creatures wearing a captain's hat stuck to the rocks beside the island. It tried to pull its foot out but failed to do so.
"Hey, let's help the little guy out. It won't do good for us when he drowns if the waves get higher," Charles told Lauren as they approached the Manjuu. The two took opposite sides of the rock above its leg, lifted it and waited for the cute creature to get out before they returned it. The Manjuu saluted before going away, a few more following it.
Returning to the command building ten minutes later, Charles started implementation of his plans.
"Lauren, get on the intercom in the office, then radio the ladies, we'll be having a meeting after breakfast to discuss everything we need to do for the base, and… oh, we're conducting combat data collection tomorrow. I want to see their power, both in their human form and their ship control. I'll be going to the Manjuu for a special project involving our 'alternate' forms."
"Got it, champ… Wait, you're serious on that last part?"
"Yep, I'll have them add larger docks, if we can make our ships appear like the ladies. If the Manjuu and Bulins work as fast as the admiral mentioned, then it would be done tomorrow as well. I'm using the events to do that. We'll need the information and technology we have to manage the base efficiently. Also, the bridge comes first."
"That I can agree with. We should be conserving oil for our ships, and here we are, using PT boats just to travel to and from islands. Haah… can you just plop up the foot part of our rigging? We can use it to travel as fast as the boats themselves."
"Good idea, though we'll always need to wait sundown before doing so... Hmm... can you try thinking of your cruiser and attempt putting it whole on the water? Because it is possible the materials we have from our world are still inside ours. It would greatly help us on our work here. I'll give you the shards."
"Roger that. I'll just grab two in case it doesn't work using one. Want me to write things down?"
"Affirmative. Have a separate documentation of everything involving our own… uh, rigging."
The two took a nap after Lauren radioed the shipgirls of the events taking place tomorrow. The sun now below the horizon after three hours, both headed out of the building and to the beach after confirming everyone else was asleep, where Charles formed the lower part of his rigging and slid on the surface of the water, while Lauren stood and started thinking of her cruiser.
Minutes passed until Charles reached the shore of the west island, and immediately found his two objectives. He told the Manjuu and Bulin working on steel cutting to call their fellows, to which they immediately did.
The two groups now complete, he told him of his plan to construct the three bridges, a lighthouse, and two special piers for his and Lauren's ships as he laid out overall specifications based on the size of his aircraft carrier and Lauren's cruiser. It didn't take long before the lead bulin and the Manjuu captain nodded and delegated teams for the new task. And just before he left, the Manjuu captain got his attention into a container full of coins and gems, with a letter saying, "thank you for helping me earlier, and I hope you accept this as a gift and proof of our loyalty."
Charles, a bit too happy for the blessing, told the Manjuu captain if anyone from his fellows can bring it to the treasury as he'll audit it later. The bird saluted before calling on his friends and lifted it away.
It was already dark, and Lauren appeared on her rigging as she jumped to the pier near Charles. The bulins and Manjuu were overtaken by curiosity and started to look at her, much to Laure's embarrassment.
"Captain, I'm here for my report. It seems like I need to take out my rigging. The shards are resonating to a similar frequency as the rigging when I thought of setting down my ship, but I think something is amiss."
Charles signaling her to continue, Lauren added, "by principle, shipgirls are formed through the conducive matrix, right? I'm thinking if we can use it as medium with the shard and my rigging as input to achieve the same results. We have two sets of each, let me borrow one."
"Hmm… granted. Take a bulin with you to pull you out in case something happens."
Nodding before she picked up a bulin, Lauren then ran to the research facility beside two vacant dry dock slots, placed a shard on the slot for cubes, then herself on the receiving end, before she asked the bulin to power the matrix up.
The certain glow of light on the dry docks attracted the attention of the residents of the western island, including Charles, as he ran off to the matrix room. Seeing Lauren intact removed his anxiety, but was washed off by the rigging disappearing into small cubes. The whole process stopped after five more seconds, and the bulin lifted the matrix shielding to reveal Lauren still on her uniform, no sign of her rigging present.
He was glad it was done without Lauren getting caught up, as she woke up and asked him if it was a success. Charles did not know what to answer until a bulin came running to him, "buli! Did captain make a new ship, buli?"
"Wait… don't tell me…"
"Charles! It worked! Damn it! Ha-ha-ha-ha!" Lauren jumped with pure joy before going outside and seeing the ship she commanded a few months ago made her even more happier.
"Hoh… so it worked, huh? Please give us a gangplank, we're going in!"
The Manjuu observing the ordeal scrambled to find the gangplank and affix it to the ship. A satisfying metallic thud when it landed on the cruiser's deck, Charles and Lauren walked to it, and upon stepping on the deck, Lauren laid herself down and smooched the metallic surface.
"(smooch)… Good lord, you're here. Welcome back, my lovely tin can."
Charles can only laugh at her as he said, "you know what, we're here to check if this is running, although I'll have the Manjuu check it. Let's head to your quarters and load up the blueprints you downloaded on your pad."
"Oh yeah… I guess you're right. Let's head to the bridge, my items are surely there," Lauren gave up in a disappointed tone.
The duo moved to the ship's conning tower as the Manjuu and Bulins started inspecting the ship, with a few of them wearing coverall similar to those in nuclear power plants moving to the interior of the ship.
On the conning tower, Lauren was hit with a tinge of nostalgia and the memory of her items flooding her mind and picked up a holographic screen before powering it on, "ooh, the pad's still alive. I think the charger is at my room, but help me first boot up this thing's system to help the little ones in diagnostics. Read the stuff later."
Agreeing on her insight as ship captain, Charles took on the power control terminal and hit the on button as Lauren checked lighting systems, damage control, propulsion, and fire control on her data pad. Charles was on the monitor starting diagnostics on hull integrity, radar and sonar, targeting systems, navigation, assistive programming, and weapons condition.
"All good on my side, Lauren. How about yours?"
"Systems green. I'm disabling navlights, radar, sonar, and lighting above deck. I feel ticklish though, dunno why. I'm quite excited firing the guns and weapons again, but I guess nowhere near here though. Hmm… do you think we can use our ships as with the riggings?"
"Well, hold on down there. I'm also trying mine. We still have how many shards?"
"Hmm… Two each from the Union-produced Arizona and Oklahoma, and two additional from the destroyers. I took one, that leaves us with five."
"Alright, then, I'm next. I'll have one as well."
Charles grabbed two shards from the container Lauren brought as he called the bulin with them earlier to tag along, and did the same with Lauren, placing the shard on the cube receptor and put out his rigging before settling on the matrix. And as the bulin powered the machine on, he fell asleep. However, deep in his mind, he was awake as a deep voice called out to him.
"Otherworlder, what is your desire?"
"I want my ship to appear on this world."
"Hmm… and why is that so?"
"I… I'll use it to help and protect them, and preserve the peace those ladies and the humans wanted."
"A noble act, I see. Do you believe that you can? Because whenever humans are present, conflict is with them. War never changes, regardless of era."
"I know. It doesn't hurt to try though. I want to achieve the calm and happiness they deserve after being sent out to this world. And I'll do the same once I'm back on my world."
"Then, entertain me. Show me the heights humanity can reach through you, the events that would serve as your race's turning point, the hope, courage, and wisdom flowing through you."
"Then I hope I won't disappoint."
The moment a blinding light appeared in his mind, he woke up and found himself back on his uniform, his rigging no longer existent.
"Wakey-wakey, Charles. Your flagship… she has returned," Lauren told him as he opened the glass cover of the conducive matrix, giving her a huge smile, before saying, "then, let's go greet her. It's been a while, my ship."
As they walked out of the building and into the dry docks, his aircraft carrier, too modern for this era, was berthed at the slot next to Lauren's cruiser, the apparent difference in size now obvious. A new ship appearing, the Manjuu and Bulins split into groups to manage the two vessels, their numbers proportional to the size of the ship they chose to check.
"Charles, your ship is too much of a behemoth for the dry docks, you know?"
"Don't blame me, ask that to the engineers that designed her. Anyways, help me with diagnostics and checks… Strange, I'm feeling too energetic even for a person without sleep yet."
Similar to the procedures they did on the cruiser, the duo on the conning tower spun the carrier's systems online, much to the awe of the little operators checking the ship.
"All set. Oh, the tab is at my seat. Let me see… I've got the cores on operation, hull integrity at a hundred percent, weapons systems online and working, prototype shielding now active, flight deck no longer damaged, bridge repairs were done… fast, and checking available aircraft… sweet! I still have the full aircraft complement… Hold on, they've been emptied before we were hit by the Sirens, right?"
"Looking through saved satellite feed… Yep, your air wing was out with the evacuating detachment… Maybe it's just part and parcel of having the ship formed through the same material as the shipgirls?"
"Well, it would be good if I can control at least an aircraft without manning it, like what Langley does. I'd want to launch a few to be sure, but I doubt the sonic boom won't reach the north island."
"Then, let's do it the night after tomorrow, unless the whole ordeal lasts longer than a day…"
"Hmm… I'm thinking of something else, but let's save it for later. Flood the docks!"
Once his order was given, the Manjuu and Bulin complement hopped down both of the ships, as the Manjuu on the control room hit a few buttons, filling the docks with water. Then after Charles and Lauren confirmed the propulsion of their ships were ready, the gates opened, and the ships' engines powered up to steer away from the area.
Lauren radioed Charles, "it's been a long time since my cruiser saw dry dock… was it after commissioning?"
"Yup, same goes with mine. If I remember correctly, I had the president and the UN secretary-general aboard with me during commissioning, I even saw a lot of high-ranking navy officers, senators and congressmen," Charles added.
"Big shot… By the way, can I calibrate my fire control directors and test radar and sonar? I want to use them to gather data from the ladies tomorrow."
"Yep, so long as it doesn't make noise loud enough for the ladies to hear. I'm also testing the electromagnetic catapults, elevators, and armament computers. Your ship's equipped with four eight-inch triple railgun mounts, no? Lucky bitch."
"Hehehe… Munitions department got ahead of themselves, I guess. I was to gather data on its effectiveness, but I only fired less than twenty rounds during that battle with the Sirens and was unable to send the data, so I'll probably collect them when we're able to explain this to the ladies."
"Alright, I've downloaded the data we'll need to my tab, and I'll start issuing additional modifications to the base after tomorrow. Let's disengage the ships for now, the moon doesn't help with hiding our ships."
"Okay, I've downloaded mine as well, ready to disengage into rigging. Chargers on hand."
"Let's do this!"
The words said, their ships disintegrated into bright blue cubes that flew upwards before landing on their persons, immediately forming their riggings as they skidded towards their rooms, gadgets and charger on hand.
The whole event went unnoticed save for a white-haired girl with her hair tied to twin tails by bunny-ear clips that slept on the bench near the docks, as she woke up just in time to see two huge ships disappear into nothingness.
"Mmhm… Laffey is still sleepy… (yawn)… but… what was that?" the destroyer talked before drinking her oxy-cola and returning to sleep.
Back at the treasury…
"Goddamn, this surely is heavy! Wondered how it would fit in when I remembered the treasury is larger than a container. Let's see… According to the amount written in the letter, we have 1000000 coins, and a ten thousand of those red gems."
"Adding the value of the gems, that's about… a few billion Royal credits!"
"Well we can probably build ourselves a new carrier here and now!"
"No. We shouldn't. We're spending it for the base, supplies, and funding our researches."
"Hmph. Fine. As you wish. And I was looking forward for a Beetle or something."
And... cut!
It's been a while since the last chapter, so I did a few touches here and there. This chapter may be the first of the three I'll be uploading in the next few days, and they'll be LOOOOOOOOONG (as long as Long Island herself) but they're the most compact I can write fight scenes .
Anyways, good luck to those people grinding the Crimson Echoes rerun over the EN servers, hope we all pull Tosa, Amagi, and Kaga BB. Don't forget tiny Little Renown! I pulled Tosa twice under two five-set building, still can't get Amagi :(
See you next chapter, and keep safe!
P.S.: I don't own Azur Lane and its' shipfus and the lil' birds, that goes to the guys at Yostar and others.