(AN: this was originally supposed to be two chapters in one, but when I started wiring it, things went out of hand.)
Belfast, devoted maid to the Commander of the Coalition fleet had many duties. From cleaning the headquarters to training her leader, her days were busy, hectic and tiring.
At least, that's what she expected to have when she started working as his maid. Early on, she learned that instead of working with someone who needed care and attention at all times (Queen Elizabeth), the Commander was a disciplined, independent individual. Other than adapting to the loss of his arm and how that affected him in combat, Belfast had little to do around the base aside from cleaning.
This free time gave her the opportunity to go through his administrative efforts and see if he needed any help there. Given that the dorm theme changes every three months, two new apartment buildings were built for the Iron Blood and Royal Navy respectively and plenty of countermeasures installed to prevent a surprise attack, he was a good leader as well.
If it were her alone, the boredom would be bearable. After all, she could simply chalk it up to her duty as a maid. However, due to a recent decision made by Queen Elizabeth, Belfast was faced with a problem. To better understand Belfast's problem, first of all, it is important to understand what Queen Elizabeth proclaimed.
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Three days ago.
"Wait… what?" asked Belfast, raising her hand, while still kneeling. Earlier in the day, she was summoned to meet the queen and found her in the library, along with Warspite, Illustrious and Wales.
"You heard me Belfast," said Queen Elizabeth "in light of the Commander's efforts during the last fight, I have decided to reward him by retasking the whole Royal Maid Squad to him."
"But then, who will take care of you?" asked Belfast.
"I-I can take care of myself," said her majesty, looking away.
'No, she can't,' thought everyone else in the room.
"Unfortunately, her majesty will not budge on the issue," said Warspite.
"It is decided," declared Queen Elizabeth, banging her scepter on the ground "henceforth and till the end of the war, the Royal Maid Squad shall be tasked with helping the Commander of the Coalition fleet."
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"With what exactly?" shouted Belfast, getting up from her chair "he does almost everything on his own."
"While I am happy that he's capable and independent, why can't you be lazy from time to time Commander?"
Pacing the room from left to right, Belfast eyed the paper with some interest.
They were indeed running out of funds for the retrofit and he wasn't the type to leave anyone behind.
"Teeheehee," she said, grinning a naughty grin "That's right. There is one avenue we haven't used yet."
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First it was Akagi, who somehow managed to get him to sleep on her tails. Next was Roon, who spent most of her nights watching him sleep. No movement, no sounds, she just stood in the dark part of the room and watched him sleep. Finally, was Friedrich, who had gone from bed mate to using him like a pillow at night.
As strange and tiring as his morning routine had become, he took it in stride. The reasons were multiple: it was their way of showing they cared, this is how it is in this world, some of them are a little eccentric… they don't mean you any harm.
Whatever excuse he told himself, it worked. He never asked too much and after a time, he grew used to it.
And when he woke up, there was yet another new addition to his morning routine antics. To the left was Sheffield, Gloucester, Edinburgh, Dido, Kent and Suffolk. To the right was Newcastle, Glasgow, Sirius, Curacao, Curlew and Belfast.
"Good morning master," said the twelve of them in unison, bowing at the same time "we hope you rested well and are ready to start your day."
"As you can see I have assembled the Royal Maid Squad to greet you," said Belfast, taking a step forward "if this is to your liking, I shall now send the maids to do their daily duties."
The Commander looked like he had trouble processing the information. He blinked a few times, rubbed his face then turned to Belfast and asked "Belfast, is it me or is the room getting smaller?"
"The room is the same size it has always been master," said Belfast "it has not been made smaller at all."
"Ugh, all this noise is really ruining the morning for me," said Roon, emerging out from under the bed "you guys are taking things a little too far."
"I agree," said Akagi, seated on a chair with wheels "you're all causing the Commander needless trouble."
"Yes please leave," said Friedrich, rising up from the bed "can't you see you're making the Commander uncomfortable?"
The Commander glared at the three of them and said "you three are the last people I want to hear that from."
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Following an 'eventful' morning, the Commander locked himself away in his room, intent on finding an answer to the financing problem. He expressly told everyone not to disturb him for the rest of the day, giving Belfast what she wanted.
This was why she was able to assemble the rest of the Royal Maid Squad in a meeting room without anyone asking too many questions.
"Ladies," she said, taking the initiative "we are at a crisis."
At once, the group she was addressing grew concerned.
"The duty of maids is to fulfill their master's desire and pamper their master by doing their work. That has been our sacred duty for decades now and we have fulfilled our duties without incident."
"However, our way of life is threatened. As we speak, there is a dangerous force lurking within the headquarters, one that could make us obsolete."
"I'm talking about the Commander," she said, and everyone gasped "instead of simply sitting and doing nothing while the rest of us do his work, he takes an active interest in the fleet, oversees distribution of resources, assigns different teams to handle the commissions and changes the themes of the dorm room at a whim."
"That's right, he's the worst enemy we have ever faced, an independent leader."
"No," said Sirius, growing pale.
"I can't… believe it," said Dido
"He looked so lazy," said Newcastle.
"There are times," said Belfast, sniffling a little "where I'm forced to watch him do the laundry, while I do nothing."
"Oh you poor thing," said Kent.
"What a villain that Commander is," added Suffolk.
"Which is why," said Belfast, slamming a manila folder onto the table.
"In order to pay the Commander back for not giving us anything to do, we're going to create work."
"Oh? How so?" asked Gloucester.
"Easy. We're going to hold an event. Spread the word ladies, by evening we're holding an auction at the dorm room."
"I like the sound of that," said Sheffield.
"Yes," said Belfast, letting out an evil chuckle "this will teach the Commander an important lesson. You'll pay for being so reliable on and off the battlefield."
As Belfast let out an evil laugh, the others also joined in. Cleveland, overhearing the noise, opened the door and poked her head in. Upon seeing what was going on, she quietly left the room, not wanting to alert the others.
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Outside the meeting room, Denver, Columbia and Monteplier greeted Cleveland as she came outside.
"Hey Cleveland," said Denver, "whoa, why's your face pale?"
"I get the feeling the Commander's in a lot of trouble," said Cleveland, looking in the direction of the meeting room.
"Should we help?" asked Columbia, sounding concerned.
"Honestly I don't think it's a good idea," replied Cleveland "we should get away from here."
"Agreed," said Monteplier "by the way Denver, what did you call us out here for?"
"That's right," said Denver, remembering something "I want to break into Roon's room."
Cleveland stopped walking and with a terrified expression, she asked "are you serious? That lady's scary. Like really scary. Why'd you want to break into her room?"
"Because when I was walking by the rooms, on the way to see you, I could have sworn Roon was up to something with a part of the wall."
"The wall? Sounds weird," said Monteplier.
"Sounds like an adventure to me," said Columbia "come on Cleve, let's go."
"Guys, this is Roon we're talking about," said Cleveland, trying to quell the idea "firstly, she's a member of our fleet so it's not right to suspect her. Secondly, if she catches us."
"But what if its something important? I'm sure the Commander would really appreciate you if you brought it to his attention," said Denver.
*cue the wavy dreamy transition
"Thank you so much for helping me Cleveland," he said, getting down on one knee.
"It was nothing Commander," she said, shyly.
"Oh but it is. I didn't know Roon was up to no good but now I do, thanks to you."
"Cleveland," he said, looking deeply into her eyes.
"Y-Yes Commander?" she asked, gulping.
"I love you," he said, coming closer to her "kiss me, my darling."
*Dream over
Realizing the potential this might have, Cleveland, her face now as red as a strawberry turned in the direction of the dorm rooms and said "let's go," then marched off.
"I still don't like it," said Monteplier.
"Awww," said Columbia, patting her sister on the head "you're just jealous that the Commander will steal our beloved Clevebro."
"I have every right to be. Did you see the way he was ogling Cleveland in a kimono?"
Following this conversation, the four found themselves outside Roon's room. The group first noted that she was at the Iron Blood's island, learning more about her history from Tirpitz and Friedrich.
Columbia slowly reached for the doorknob and turned it. Then, she opened the door and went inside, followed by Denver, Monteplier and Cleveland. Now inside, the four of them started going through the room, only to find there was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Alright, we've done what we needed to," said Monteplier "there's nothing here. Roon is scary but there's nothing to, oh wow that's suspicious."
"What is?" asked Denver, turning to Monteplier.
"Oh that does look suspicious," added Columbia.
"Guys it's only a very long curtain," said Cleveland, walking up to the curtain "it's not like there's going to…."
As she reached out to the curtain and pulled it down, the four girls all saw that there why Roon hid this part of her room. They saw a large mirror, placed on an ornate dressing table, filled with plenty of make up bottles and perfumes. On its own that seemed fine, but when looking around the mirror, they saw hundreds of small pictures of the Commander stuck to the wall.
Some of them looked like they were taken from a distance, others looked like they were taken from a hiding spot. However, one prevailing theme seen here was that all these pictures were taken without him knowing.
Then, to top it off, the four of them saw many pieces of paper on and scattered around the dressing table. On them were the words "Roon + Commander" surrounded in a heart and in different sizes.
"Yo," said Columbia, looking as wide-eyed as her other sisters "this….. is….. scary."
"I think we've stayed here long enough," said Denver and everyone agreed.
Just as they turned around, they saw the doorknob to the room turning.
"The jig is up," said Cleveland, opening the window near the bed, "RUN!."
One by one, the three of them leapt out the window with Cleveland being the last one to leave. Once outside, the four of them ran away from the room, as quickly as their legs could take them.
"Let's never sneak into anyone's rooms again," cried out Columbia.
"Agreed," said Denver.
"People deserve their privacy," added Monteplier.
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As this happened, Belfast and the maids set out to inform the rest of the fleet that they were having a Commander related auction. She divided the maids into two groups, with one spreading the word to the other factions while the other helped her make the necessary items required for the auction.
Managing their time efficiently in a way that only the maids of the Royal Navy could do, the teams completed their tasks on schedule and by evening, the auction room was packed with many members.
"I think a lot of us are here to see what's going on," said Enterprise to Yorktown "I mean, it's not like the Commander has anything he can auction off."
"Hmm," said Yorktown "I for one think it's something else."
"By the way, where's hornet?" asked Enterprise
"She's finishing up some commission reports with Oklahoma and Nevada," replied Yorktown.
Enterprise scanned the crowd and saw a number of familiar faces. Akagi, Wales, Friedrich, Roon, Suruga, Saint Louis, Monarch, Z23, Graf Spee, Cleveland and Neptune.
Suddenly, the lights in the room went off and a single light shone on stage. Everyone in the room turned their attention to Belfast coming out from behind a curtain, holding a mic in her hand.
"Good evening ladies and thank you all for coming to the first ever Commander auction," she said "before we begin, I'd like to go over a few ground rules. First…"
"What's a Commander auction?" called out Enterprise.
"It's as the name say," replied Belfast "we're auctioning off Commander related items. As evidenced during the beach festival, he is a valuable commodity and we're taking advantage of it."
"And does the Commander know about it?" asked Enterprise.
"Hey, stop asking such dumb questions and let's get to the good stuff," said one voice.
Belfast cleared her throat then moved aside. The room then saw Curacao and Curlew bring out a table of figurines of the Commander in different poses. One had him standing stoically with his sword in the ground. One had him with his sword out in a stylish pose and the third had him with his shirt open, exposing his well-defined body.
"These are the first line of products we'll be selling," said Belfast "Alongside this will be the essential dakimakuras on sale."
"Please note that Akashi and Shiranui have set up stalls to your left and to your right. Based on how much you buy, three of you present here will be treated to the three grand prizes."
"Uh-oh," said Yorktown "I don't like where this is going."
"I like where this is going," said Akagi, somewhere in the crowd.
Belfast then extended her hand to the curtain behind her, which opened up and revealed three somethings hidden underneath three smaller drapes.
"For the third place winner," said Belfast and Edinburgh took off one of the drapes, revealing a beautiful enlarged picture of the Commander seated on the grass, with little birds resting on his head and shoulders.
"They will receive, this picture, titled 'one with nature,'" she said, continuing "notice how the Commander is completely at peace with nature and how our world's animals have taken to him."
"Hey," said a voice from the crowd "is that Eugen in the back?"
The crowd and the maids then stared closer at the picture, only then noticing Eugen poking her head out of one of the shrubs.
"You saw how peaceful he looked," countered Eugen "I didn't want to disturb him."
"Next up," said Belfast and Kent revealed the next picture. It was one of the Commander lying on one side of the bed, the other side looking empty.
"The second place winner will receive this picture, titled 'missing you.' Look at his position and the way his arm is stretched out as if reaching out to his love. Who? Who could it be? Who is it that the Commander wants?"
"And finally…." Said Belfast, while Didio did a drum roll "for the first place winner… they will receive…."
As she said that, Newcastle pulled down the drape, revealing the picture. In that moment, everyone in the room all had the same thought.
'ooohhh, six pack.'
Based on the clothes he wore, it looked like this was taken moments after his daily training routine was finished. The picture showed him with his shirt almost fully taken off exposing his well-toned body plain as day.
"This picture, titled 'Training complete.' Look at the way his hair is clumped down and covering only his eyes. The way the sweat trickles down his cheeks and drips off his chin. And those abs… those abs."
There was silence in the roof. A long silence as everyone looked at the pictures, some just taking it in and storing it in their mind, others, thinking about what was the requirement needed to get just one of those three pictures.
"Bidding starts…" said Belfast, raising her hand high up "NOW!."
Needless to say, the products were sold out in less than ten minutes. Even though Akashi and Shiranui made plenty of extras just in case, the two did not factor in the demand the Commander had. The whole room turned into a frantic competition with only three emerging the winners.
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Meanwhile, back in his office, the Commander woke up in a start. He looked from side to side and blinked a couple of times. Then he turned back and saw that it was pretty late right now.
Thinking that he'd better go get dinner while its still there, he got up from the seat and headed out the door.
"Whoa," he said, shuddering a little "why am I getting a bad feeling all of a sudden?"