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Disclaimer: I don't own Azur Lane or any other properties I make references to.
"Men are not prisoners of fate, but prisoners of their own minds."
-Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Chapter 6: The Paradigm
The doors opened and closed to signal the exit of Rear Admiral Slade. Commander found it kind of eerie that the ship girls present remained wordless. At least they didn't stare at him, but he still found himself petrified with all ears on him. He just wanted food. Was that too much to ask for? Nashville perceived the state of her commander. It seemed he wasn't comfortable in crowds, or maybe just feared the attention. She had to help him. So, she gave him something to focus on; a question, which went, "So, how'd it go?"
It did the trick and Nashville was pleased with herself for having been able to read Las Vegas. He relaxed considerably, almost to normal, and he answered, "Not so bad. I'd give it a seven out of ten for the experience. So, not as well as I'd hoped but not as bad as it could've been."
"That's good. But, just wandering, what would be a ten out of ten?"
Nashville saw him give his smile that meant he was about to segue into a joke. She wasn't wrong. He responded in a joking tone, "She gives us milk and cookies and asks us how she can help."
Nashville was only mildly amused, but still smiled. Honolulu roller her eyes. A few giggles came from the still silent tables and fortunately for the commander that broke the spell over the collective who proceeded with their meal and resumed to speak amongst themselves. But not all did so, and these kept their curiosities or suspicions at hand.
Commander sat down to further abate any attention that may be coming their way. Across from the two sisters he now found opportunity to return the question. "How'd it go for you two?" he asked as he switched his view between them.
Nashville and Honolulu looked at each other and Commander saw both smile widely. Nashville's smile he knew, and it looked natural. Honolulu's smile seemed unpracticed, leading him to believe that this was a rare occurrence. Honolulu's died while Nashville's remained and she happily reported, "Ten out of ten. I'd love to do it again. And it looks like I'll get too! Because guess what?" She didn't even what for any sort of response before saying excitedly, "Another one of my sisters, Helena, is stationed here too! I can't wait to see her!"
Commander was genuinely happy for his friend and grinned accordingly. She had been through too much alone, but now she had sisters. He congratulated her, "I'm happy for you Nashville. I look forward to meeting her too. But, if you don't mind, I'm gonna get some food. I'm starving."
He stood and walked to the food line. He grabbed a tray and was about to inspect what the options were when something moved, and it caught his attention. A yellow creature climbed a set of stairs behind the line with a spoon in it's hand…wing? It was feathered. A bird of some kind? It definitely was one he had never, ever seen before. Typical birds don't wield serving spoons, wear chef's hats, or look so expressive as they stare. This one wanted to know what he wanted to eat. But he couldn't find his voice in front of the strangest creature he had met. For some reason women who were once warships made more sense than this…thing. He stared right back. After a second or two of this he heard Honolulu of all people speak up, "They're called, 'Manjuu.' They don't talk but I promise you they're smart."
Commander could stand by the concept of mute intelligence. This thing looked at him in a way that belied sentience. Besides, he knew the saying, "The ability to speak does not make you intelligent." So, he decided to roll with it. Wait. Honolulu said, "they?" There's more of them? His fascination grew at the prospect of a flock—and hopefully not a murder—of intelligent birds. He simply had to observe them at some point, but later. He said, "Thanks Honolulu," over his shoulder before saying to the manjuu, "Can I get some spaghetti, please?" He chose something right in front of the manjuu for it's convenience. A plate of spaghetti with some vegetables was slid to him. And the manjuu then slid a glass of water to his side. He thanked his new avian ally and moved with his tray of food back to Nashville and Honolulu. His return journey showed that some of the ship girls had finished eating but hadn't leaved. It seemed the tables grew ears. At least they still talked amongst themselves to try and act natural.
He sat down and was graced with the good fortune that the two sisters were early in their meals, so he didn't have to eat alone or be the third wheel. He took a bite of his spaghetti. It was the best spaghetti he had ever had. It must have been obvious how much he liked it because Nashville spoke up from her own meal, "You likin' your spaghetti sir?"
"I gotta step up my spaghetti game. It looks like I'm the bird-brain when it comes to cooking around here."
Both ship girls giggled at his pun. He internally high-fived himself for seeming to win over Honolulu. If only a pun was really all it took. Nevertheless, all three got back to their meals and Commander had found a pace that was perfect to finish just as the cruisers across him were. He took his last bite, and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck and arms stand up.
He looked around for the cause and found a small girl—a child standing a few feet away looking at him with tired orange eyes. She had long blonde hair in twin tails with a strand of hair sticking up and a white dress that seemed awfully revealing for a child. Accents on her sleeves and thigh-highs invoked thoughts of electricity. She emitted sparks… She emitted sparks! And that made Commander wary, but he hid his apprehension. She didn't speak, favoring only to gaze.
Honolulu came to his aid again, "That's Eldridge. She wants to say hi to you." Honolulu omitted the part about this being what everyone on base called, "The Eldridge Experiment," that they used to test new commanding officers.
Swiveling in his seat towards this visitor showed just how small she was. Even while sitting she only reached his eye level. A good look revealed to the former codebreaker that this ship girl was the cutest little girl he had ever seen. Normally, he didn't much concern himself with others' opinions of him, but he really wanted this girl to like him, with the purest intentions of course. He wasn't a degenerate that gets off to children. But now a conundrum was upon him. He liked to stand and face someone directly to look them in the eye and then greet them, such gentlemanly conduct got the best results with people, but the height disparity would be an issue here. He found a solution.
Commander stood and put himself right in front of Eldridge who didn't move, only sparked. He knelt down on one knee in front of the ship girl. He found that his eyes were now a few inches within altitude of hers. Now, it was time to take a risk. He'd either be golden, or his goose would be cooked. He said, "Hi Eldridge. I'm Commander Las Vegas. It's nice to meet you." Eldridge's hair on top, now remembered by the geeky officer as an, "ahoge," twitched a bit. But then he delivered the move from which no ship girl can recover, and he held his hand out for a handshake. This was it. The moment of truth. Would Eldridge shock him? Would she even move?
Her lips twitched into a slight smile and her ahoge danced around. She finally started to speak. Slowly and carefully the words came out, "Eldridge, happy…to meet you." Her sparking stopped and she reached out and shook his hand. Size disparity became even more obvious to the over six-foot-tall man. "Commander, nice," uttered the destroyer escort as the handshake stopped. Eldridge never said that, and everyone save the newcomers knew that.
"Thank you, Eldridge. But what can I do for you?"
"Have a code."
"Excellent. I just got finished eating so I can get on that right away. Could you please send it over Navy VHF 52 while I put my food tray up?"
She nodded slowly and Commander stood. He took up his tray and saw approving nods from Honolulu and Nashville, the latter's nod being much more obvious. He delivered his tray to the marked spot. His was the only one. Nobody had left the mess hall yet. Very well, he didn't like it, but he wouldn't force anyone to leave. No pressure for this code break. He returned and sat down in his original spot, took out Mr. Bond, and booted it up. The screen and keyboard hovered in the air and it drew out some muted, "oohs," and, "aahs," from the not-so-subtle crowd. He looked for incoming messages on the specified frequency and there it was. That was another question about ship girls answered. They didn't need to be on their hulls to use the radio. He looked to the girl and said, "Thanks, Eldridge. I can take this from here," and he looked at the code.
The code was a low-level intercept. A submarine deployment order, by the looks of it. This shouldn't take long at all. Ten minutes tops. He was about to delve into his work when his shirt was tugged on. It was Eldridge. He looked her way. This time she wasted no time in laying out her demands. "…Commander, lap," and she started to climb onto his lap.
So shocked—ha!—was the commander by this move that he couldn't object in word or action. And so, the small girl had perched herself on one of his legs. Fortunately, she was small enough that he could see and reach around her, even if her ahoge got in the way a bit. Nonetheless, he didn't want to get actually shocked so he permitted it. Still, it was pretty distracting, looks like ten minutes wasn't going to happen. Commander decided to take this in stride so, now was his time to ask a question or two on his mind. He got the girl's attention in his lap with, "Hey, Eldridge," and she craned her neck to look at his face, "Did the Philadelphia Experiment ever actually happen?"
She shook her head and Commander sighed out, "Alright then. I had to ask."
Honolulu continued watching the commander work away at his code. She noted the exact same change in this man that she barely knew, as Nashville did when she saw him do his job for the first time. On the whole he seemed to be of a milder disposition, in stark contrast to Admiral Slade. But they shared an apparent soberness. But when this man got behind whatever computer thing he was using to crack a code the, "goof," as her sister described was replaced with a professional. His fingers flitted about his keyboard at a speed she didn't know was possible for humans or ship girls. She was impressed, mildly. On the whole that is how she felt about him. He seemed to fit all the things Nashville described. He even passed the Eldridge Experiment. Nobody has ever done that before, because even though she didn't talk much or seem very lively, Eldridge was an uncanny judge of character, and didn't place her trust lightly. She even sat on his lap! And he allowed it! What sort of man is this? She thought on the only other officer that had genuinely shown her, or any ship girl, kindness as she held her hat in her hands.
Her thoughts were broken when Commander asked Eldridge another question. "Say, I was wandering, how is discipline enforced around here?" Commander was curious as to what sort of things motivated beings such as ship girls to maintain military discipline. He hypothesized it was the normal military maneuvers of speeches about, "We're better than this," or, "This isn't our tradition," or something like kitchen duty. He suspected Eldridge to be the type that was honest to a fault, so he asked her. He wasn't prepared for the truth and he hadn't noticed when the collective assembly sucked in a breath simultaneously.
Eldridge had liked this strange man. He was nicer and felt more honest than the others she had met before. The older girls told her if she wanted to get true answers, she had to give true answers too. She was afraid that telling him would make him mad somehow and it would happen to her. Still, she promised she would be honest. She whispered, "Get threatened," hoping he wouldn't hear.
"Get threatened? How? With what?" asked the Commander with growing alarm, but he still kept his rhythm of math equations and fingers typing.
"Scrapping."
Equations and fingers froze in place, their train of thought having been derailed. Eldridge whimpered and his leg started to tingle with the flow of electricity. He ignored it for the child in his lap. His response was as emphatic as Eldridge's informing was succinct, "That's horrible. Did…Did this ever happen to you?"
Eldridge nodded and he had lost feeling in his leg. But that wasn't important. A memory flashed to his mind. A little brother. A smashed vase. A threat of parental discovery. And a hug of comfort and togetherness. And so, he leaned forward slightly, and his hands left the keyboard to wrap around the still whimpering Eldridge. He held her closely, ignoring any amount of pain that came from hugging a living battery. "It's okay. Don't be afraid. I won't do anything of the sort," whispered out the commander as best he could. "I promise I won't." Finally, those last words calmed down Eldridge who quickly wrangled her electricity under control.
His arms unwrapped her and after a slow, deliberate pat on the head he got back to work, his code was nearly broken. Eldridge grasped a bit of excess fabric from his shirt, "…Commander, okay?" she asked, aware that her electricity had gotten away from her.
"I'm fine," he lied. His pain remained great, but some things are more important than that. Eldridge bought the lie, but Honolulu didn't, and for once she condoned such deception. Nashville was the same as her sister, surprised that her commander would be the one to initiate any sort of physical contact like that.
"Eldridge, stay?"
"Yes, you can stay. I'm almost done anyway so it won't be much longer." A minute or two passed and the code was broken. "Okay, there it is. I'll send it back over the same frequency from earlier so can you forward it to the right place, please?"
Eldridge nodded and the duo pivoted out from their seat. She slid off and stood up, but Commander couldn't stand, not that she needed to know. "…Commander, like," came the soft voice of the young girl before the question that went south. She suddenly jumped and wrapped her own arms around Commander's neck. He returned the embrace.
"Wanna come train with me and my sister, Eldridge?" said a new voice. The embrace cut off and both turned to a teenage looking ship girl. She had a short black double-breasted dress with a white and red duster coat. Her relatively short gray hair had a silvery sheen, and she had a toothy grin on her face.
Eldridge's ahoge danced around and she immediately consented. As she left the mess she turned and gave a big wave to Commander. He waved back as she left. Finally, the crowd began to disperse from the mess hall. A few, including Nashville and Honolulu, remained but the blonde in the bra top and hat approached. As she got close and had stopped, she pouted dramatically enough to make sarcasm obvious, "Where's my handshake?"
Commander snicked at his sorry state before responding, "You know. I can do the handshake it's the standing part that's a no go. Just as I'm getting my sea-legs down my land-legs fail me. Go figure. But please, check back in a few minutes."
The blonde grinned even wider and reached out. They shook. "I'm Hornet, but the way. And if Eldridge likes you, I'm sure we'll get along just fine. But seriously though, what you just did, everyone liked that."
"That's nice that everyone thought that, but I'd be lying if I said that pleasing the crowd was my objective."
"Then what was your objective?"
Commander shrugged, "I just wanted to do the right thing, or at least, what felt right at the moment. So, I made a snap decision, and now my leg is cramping up. But please don't tell Eldridge, it'll ruin my trying to comfort her."
Hornet brought her finger to her chin to make a show of thinking even though her mind was already made up. She looked to the two other ship girls who hadn't cleared out. "I think we can do that." The other two nodded.
One wore a brown and white dress with the skirt that was wide open to show a short black one underneath. Her sandy blonde hair was cut to cover one of her eyes. She noticed the appraisal and felt to introduce herself, "Yo! I'm the big sister of the Nevada-class battleships, Nevada! So, you're from Las Vegas, huh? Would you think yourself lucky then?"
"Sorry, Nevada, I know too much of the math behind gambling to think it's a good idea. Still, it's nice meeting you," and he once again offered his hand for a handshake. Nevada obliged quite eagerly. Commander thought out to himself that heavy artillery or bombs won't be necessary for winning against ship girls. The age-old simple gesture of a nice firm handshake can piece the thickest armors. He thanked his grandfather for hammering into him the need for a good handshake.
He turned to the last unnamed ship girl and she was in some of the strangest garb he had seen yet. A strip of white fabric covered her breasts, an anchor covered her navel, she had a short skirt, and had a cape whose metal collar covered her mouth. What was most interesting though was her heterochromatic eyes and sharp blade-like horns. While Nevada introduced herself to the whole world with every person she met, this one spoke quietly, "…I'm Indianapolis, second ship of the Portland-class."
As she stood, she had her arms folded and made no move to get into the distance needed for a handshake. Commander saw this and assumed, correctly, that she didn't want one. He opted to nod slowly and deeply to the girl as a greeting. She returned it. Maybe handshakes aren't fool proof. Commander greeted her too, "It's a pleasure, Indianapolis."
He looked back to Hornet. It looked like she had something to say so he coaxed her with, "You had something else?"
"Yeah, well, ya see…ah…us three were sitting by each other listening in, as you probably noticed, and now that you've heard what Eldridge said about discipline, we wanted to know what you're gonna do about it."
Commander's eyes looked to the ground and he hummed to show he was thinking. He tried to come up with some way to help. A strategy. Could he change the navy? No, but he knew someone who could. But would Roscoe even help? It was worth a shot. Now, to explain it, but without namedropping.
He looked back up to Hornet and started to speak, "Did you know that there are a few ways to crack a code?" Hornet and her cadre shook their heads, "You can look for pattern words called, 'cribs,' and then use a method called, 'brute force,' to test combinations until the code is cracked. This is the method that cracked both the Enigma Machine and was used by 'Magic' which in turn gave you," Commander pointed at the carrier, "and your sisters the leg up at Midway. This is the more quote-unquote, 'traditional,' way that works even better now with supercomputers. But there is another way, that uses what is called a, 'key.' If you know the type of cypher being used, you just need to find the key. And Bob's your uncle. I guess that what I'm getting at is that, yes, I will help you, but I won't go around busting down doors and cracking skulls to do it. I intend to use subtlety, and find the right, 'key,' to get what we want."
Hornet's face lit up and so did the others. They were about to thank the stranger and rush off to tell the others that maybe things will change from here on. Commander saw that this was going to happen and needed to make a point. "Just a moment," he ordered to calm them down, "Now, I want you to answer this honestly. Will anything less extreme than the threat of scrapping maintain the discipline befitting a military unit?"
This time Indianapolis spoke first, and though quietly she filled the air with determination, "I am a heavy cruiser, a warship… regulations were followed then, same now. I'd like normal punishments …like the sailors aboard me. Punishments for sailors, not monsters."
Neither Hornet, Nevada, nor Honolulu added anything else. But they nodded solemnly as the gaze of the officer went over them. He stood and faced the newcomers, now having recovered from the numbness and then the cramping in his leg. They saluted him, seeing where this was going. He returned the salute and said, "Then I'll see what I can do. And for the record, I had no idea that my question would turn out like it did. But if there's nothing else, you're dismissed."
The three retreated with a lot less energy than before. But they still looked rather pleased. Hornet turned around as she tailed the group through the mess hall's door. "You're alright, Commander Las Vegas. We're glad to have you around." And then she left.
He turned to the Brooklyn sisters finally. He pointed out, "You two have been awful quiet for the past while. Any comments?"
Nashville shook her head solemnly and said, "No sir."
Honolulu stared at him for a few moments before her anger again waxed hot. She grit her teeth and growled out, "Yeah I got something to say."
Nashville was mortified by her sister and moved very briefly to touch her and get her attention and get her to quiet down before anything bad happened. But Commander beat her to the punch, "Let her speak."
Honolulu began her verbal broadside and with venom on her lips and steadily growing volume she began, "Just who the fuck do you think you are? Nashville asked me to trust you, to give you a chance. I was soooooo excited to prove her wrong. To prove that every. Single. Officer. In this god-forsaken navy is the same. That they're fascist swine. All of them. They don't care about us. We're just piles of scrap buckets of bolts that happen to talk and look human. If we live or if we die, doesn't matter to them. We're worthless to them." She paused and looked to the tabletop. She sniffled and then she continued, but softly, "Where have you been for the past ten years? Can't you see that you've been needed?"
Commander sat down in the seat across from his friend's sister. He opened his mouth and started to explain, "I believe that there is a purpose in this life. I likewise believe that there is a reason that we are confronted with walls that seem too tall to climb, and I don't believe that it's part of some cosmic comedy. Rather, I think that bad things happen so that we can learn from them. Learn what hurts and learn what brings joy. But more than anything, learn in what ways we must become better. Words won't fix anything but for what it's worth, I'm sorry that all that happened to you. I doubt that any of your troubles will be solved over night, but I can guarantee that in the end it will have all been worth it." He leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table and said, "I look forward to working alongside you, Honolulu." He leaned back and looked first to Nashville, who was smiling widely, and then he turned back to Honolulu. "If there's nothing else, I'd like to take Nashville so that we can go discuss the next move in our mission."
"Yeah, sure. I…uh…need some time to think. Good luck, you two."
"Thanks. Could you please radio when Helena arrives? We may or may not be on base when she does."
Honolulu nodded slowly and Commander stood and started walking to the door. Nashville began to follow but was stopped when Honolulu whispered, "You were right."
Nashville looked upon the sister she loved and had to make her aware of that, "Love you, sis."
"I love you too."
XXXXXXXX
As they left the mess hall bound for Nashville's hull both parties found themselves in reflection over the craziness of the past half-hour or so. As they walked there was a number of ship girls that they passed, and they took this time to introduce themselves. Commander and Nashville met Laffey, who was close to passing out in the grass again, Charles Ausburne, with her sisters, Aulick, and Spence, the last of which was falling apart at the seams with fear of probably everything. They also came across a rather prideful ship girl called, "Memphis," who insisted that close attention be paid to her. Then finally they ran into the group that had Eldridge with them. She of course asked for a hug, which was given, and the group that seemed to have originally been three had become five. They were Eldridge, Denver, the girl who had asked her to training, Montpelier, Denver's sister, and finally there was Pensacola and Lexington. It was a rather varied group that had introduced themselves to Commander and Nashville on their way to her hull, and fortunately most of them didn't seem to resent the officer on principle anymore. Which was good. Too bad they couldn't be introduced to all of the ship girls on base because some of them still gave the duo a wide berth or just didn't care. No matter. The mission didn't dictate that they make friends with everyone that they meet.
As they approached Nashville's hull, having broken from introductions, Commander opened his mouth for what he hoped would be an interesting conversation. "In your opinion," started the man to get her attention, "is it better to be feared or respected?"
Nashville didn't think that this needed much thought initially, "I think it's better to be ressss…hm…you're right. Which is better? I mean, we've seen the fruits of respect just now but then again, I'm a warship. And a warship is meant to be feared. What do you think?"
"I see that you're onto why I ask you this. But for your question, I'm not gonna tell you my opinion just yet. It'll taint yours. So, let me hear it from you, which is better?"
Nashville thought as they walked. Having passed a minute or two in consideration she came to a conclusion and responded, "I stand by what I was gonna say earlier. It's better to be respected. I especially think that when I remember the past month and how I've gotten along with you and how different it was with my last captain. Also, when I think of the Sakura Navy in World War II, us fearing them or them fearing us didn't change the fact that we had to fight em. But not respecting your enemy is a good way to lose. So, what do you think?"
Commander had spent some time over the years asking this very question, so he didn't have to hesitate when he said, "I think the question is best resolved with another question, 'Who wants what?' Let me give an example. The navy wants a base of superhumans kept in line, they use fear. But some no-name codebreaker comes along and wants the same thing, he uses respect. But when either needs to conquer some other country they both use fear to defeat their enemies to take whatever it is they want. You see what I'm getting at?"
"Yeah, I do. It's just…using fear seems wrong."
"You're absolutely right. Fear is a sharp blade that can rend the world asunder, so it must be used carefully, and more importantly, sparingly otherwise it stops scaring people and the blade dulls. So, when respect runs out, fear won't carry you the rest of the way. But I will concede that you are right in that I believe that respect works a lot better than fear in most situations. Ergo, we will be using respect the most and fear the least, but we can't disregard it."
They went back and forth on the subject a bit more, both trying to get the other to see things in their point of view. They eventually came to the peaceful consensus that both have the right to their opinions and left it at that. And by the time that they had finished their conversation they had arrived at the bridge of Nashville. Both sat down and Nashville spoke first, "I guess we better get started then?"
"Right. So…uh…I think we can agree that running in guns blazing is a bad idea." Nashville nodded rapidly to indicate that she very much agreed with that. "I think that it'd be best if we can do some sort of on-site reconnaissance. More than anything to determine if we're up against a blockade, chaser, or illusion class superweapon."
Nashville thought on this briefly to see if there were any holes in this. She saw a few, "I think that doing that is a good idea, but I don't think we should just sail up and look down into this blue hole. I remember you asking about if my scout plane can drop a sonar buoy. I think we should do that. That way we can be comfortably out of range of whatever this thing is and still determine what we want to know."
"That sounds good, but I only see one problem. Look at this from the monster's perspective. I could conceivably mistake a sonar buoy for a diver or a swimmer for a short time assuming I'm not paying too much attention to it, and if what we know is true, if it isn't a military target. But if it just suddenly drops in from the sky without any obvious source, I'd be pretty suspicious." Nashville's face showed that she wasn't following very well so Commander cut to the chase, "I'm saying that the scout plane is a good idea but what I think we should do is land it on the water nearby, taxi it over the blue hole to make it look like a boat, or a source, and then drop the sonar buoy, posing as a swimmer, or nothing suspicious. You follow?"
"Yeah, that makes sense. I think that we can do that. But do you really think that so much deception is needed?"
"Yes, I do. We don't know how smart these things are so until we find other evidence, I think it's safest to assume that it's intelligent."
"You're probably right," and then she thought a bit and said, "Do you think we can also find out it's method of attack in any way from recon? Like, does anybody look into what physically sunk all the ships attacked by this superweapon?"
Commander considered this, "You're thinking that we find divers or someone to investigate the sunken ships?"
"Uh-huh. That would be a real help."
"That would help," confirmed Commander who then brought his fist to his chin to think. After a few seconds he snapped his fingers in a eureka moment. He asked, "What if I could tell you that someone has already done those investigations?"
"That'd be awesome. But who?"
"The Eagle Union Coast Guard. Especially, since the operation area is this close to shore, any sort of survivors would be picked up by them, or at least, filed with them. We can get the information we need from their records. Besides, with the amount of data that they no doubt have, we can get a good feeling if there are more than one way that this thing attacks."
Both took a moment to consider what had been decided. It seemed that they had their next moves figured out. Commander picked Nashville's brain for anything else with, "Can you think of anything else? It seems that any solid fight strategy will have to wait until we find out more about this thing."
"I can't think of anything else, so do you wanna stay on base for today and go to the Coast Guard Sector HQ tomorrow ooooorrrrr," trailed off Nashville because she was receiving a radio transmission from Honolulu. She jumped up suddenly which made commander jump in his place, not expecting anything jumping-from-your-seat worthy to happen. Nashville spoke excitedly and quickly, "Honolulu just radioed that Helena is here! They're at the mess hall and she doesn't know a thing about me being here!"
Commander, having recovered from his fright, smiled and said, "Well, we're pretty much done here so let's not keep her waiting. Do you want me to be on your heels and arrive slower or do you want to rocket on ahead?"
Nashville didn't even answer. She zoomed out of the bridge thus giving Commander his answer.
He chuckled to himself and stood to follow his friend. As he left, he joked aloud, "What convenient timing! If we were just characters in someone's story, I'd totally get mad at the author for only being able to come up with a lazy scene change like this."
XXXXXXXX
He made his was leisurely to the mess hall again. On his way he joked to himself about the irony of ships abandoning their crews. Arrival revealed that Honolulu had opted to stay where she was in order to think and he had caught Nashville and Helena still standing in the aisle between tables where they had undoubtedly met to hug one another and engage in other sisterly mushy things. He had walked in as Nashville was explaining what she had been doing for the past year, but his entrance made who he assumed to be Helena look over Nashville's shoulder.
Nashville looked too and saw who she was looking at. Her smile grew even bigger than it was before. It baffled the man's mind how she could even smile any bigger. But that was thrown aside as in a manner much like before with Honolulu, Nashville took a hold of Helena's arm and led her toward her commander saying, "There's someone I want you to meet."
Commander stepped forward towards the pair as they walked in his direction. Doing so allowed him to get a good look of Helena. She definitely fit the bill of having an out-of-the-ordinary hair color, for hers was blue like the sky with tips that faded into a lavender color. Her manner of dress was quite like that of her sisters, the only obvious differences being the color swap favoring blue and as Chairwoman Hara would say, "less exaggerated proportions." Her purple eyes looked him up and down. To Las Vegas's eyes she seemed much more reserved than either Brooklyn sister that he had associated with thus far. This would be interesting.
They got close to each other and the three stopped and like with her other sister, Nashville handled the introduction, "Helena, this is my commander," and then she repeated what she had said with Honolulu, "He's the best officer I've met since I became a ship girl."
Commander smiled to Helena to show her that she was welcome in his presence. But not before giving his thanks to Nashville for her kind words. Commander's normal people meeting procedure was to shake hands, and he would do that here as well, but he now had the added curiosity of seeing how Helena would react. It would be his test of what she was like. Nashville was ecstatic. Honolulu was disbelieving. What would Helena be? "It's a pleasure to meet you, Helena," he said, and he extended his hand. Moment of truth. She looked to his hand and then looked to him; he was still smiling. She tentatively reached out and grasped his hand lightly, as if she were afraid of him or of hurting him. He tightened his grip just a bit to be considered genuine but not aggressive. Helena matched him.
She finally spoke to him, "Nice to meet you, Commander. As Nashville said I'm Helena. If you really are the best my big sister has met please…guide us towards victory."
So, she was more reserved. But there seemed to be a bit more to it, a timidness that creeped out into her mannerisms. Now, what was the cause of it?
They stopped shaking and their hands dropped. Commander responded, "I don't know about me being, 'the best,' but as long as I'm able, I'll guide to the upmost of my ability."
Honolulu, who had remained silent until now and had noticed Helena's wariness, chose to speak up, "I don't know about, 'the best,' either," she had gotten Helena's attention, and the attention of the few other ship girls that must have come from Helena's fleet that just returned, before she continued, "but he passed the Eldridge Experiment."
"Eldridge Experiment?" asked Nashville. Commander didn't say anything about that revelation. It made sense to him that some sort of test would be put forward to determine his character. He's glad he passed though; it sure made his job easier. And besides, he does the same thing, just without cute little girls.
Helena returned her attention to the man in front of her. "You must be really sincere then. Eldridge doesn't like strangers very much."
"Is that so? I didn't pick up on that when I met her."
"Yes, it's true. She's talented at this sort of thing. But I think it would be nice if we could sit down, the four of us, and talk some?" she said as she gestured to over where Honolulu sat before she added on, "If you're alright with it, of course."
"I'd love to. Lead the way please." Then the two standing sisters and officer walked to sit by Honolulu.
Helena had relaxed just a bit around the commander knowing that any approval given by Eldridge was well earned. She asked, "I'm sorry sir but I didn't hear your name."
"Well. I don't have a name. Officially, at least. But Nashville, and now everybody here, calls me, 'Las Vegas.'"
Helena sat for a moment to formulate a response, "Before you came in, Nashville said that you two had a secret mission together without any other fleet attached. Do you think that it's worth it that it costed who you were?"
"I never thought of it like that," noted the now melancholic commander. He thought for a bit before saying, "I can't honestly say that it was worth it yet. It's still too early to tell. But it's too late to turn around. There's little choice now but to strap in and make it worth it in the end."
Helena was about to take this opportunity to say something else but before she could open her mouth the commander started again, "But still, I made a choice to take this mission. And while I didn't know what it was when I accepted it or what it would cost, I still chose. So, it was the same then as it is now, I'm dedicated to see this through to the end, wherever that may be."
This time Nashville spoke up, "They didn't tell you what you were doing before you accepted? What kind of fairness is that?"
"It's the kind of fairness brought on by the crisis of war and it's need for secrecy. I still remember how they talked me into it. They played me like a fiddle. Played to my curiosity and the things I believe in."
"Who's they?" asked Helena.
"The supreme commander and axis chairwoman," answered Honolulu this time. Commander fixed her with a stare and briefly wandered how she knew that but then her talk with Nashville came to his memory while he was busy contending with Admiral Slade.
While she had been thinking after Commander Las Vegas and Nashville had left the mess hall earlier Honolulu had come up with a question that she wanted an answer to. Seeing as how going for the throat with the questions had gotten her the truth so far with Las Vegas and Nashville she decided to continue this tradition by asking, "So, Commander Las Vegas, what can you tell us about yourself?"
Commander chuckled humorlessly and then said, "You know, this is one of those times where your life flashes before your eyes and you realize how boring it really is. Aside from the new classified mission and me being a codebreaker," he paused and turned to Helena, "Oh yeah. I don't know if you know but part of me being here with Nashville is that I'm helping out with code breaking so if you intercept anything, you can give it to me or West Virginia, but I digress. My life was so…normal. Mom, Dad, siblings, school, there isn't really anything out of the ordinary or special."
Helena grinned just a bit and retorted, "Yet, here you are."
"Yet here I am. Here we are. And that's special, I guess. I wouldn't want to change that. Maybe, it was worth it when you look at it that way."
Helena smiled a bit wider, "I'd say you're on the right track to not changing that. So, I like to ask officers I meet this, but what you want to do after the war?"
"I don't have anything planned at the moment. I'll live life as it comes. What kind of things do you three want to do after the war?"
Silence overtook the three light-cruisers. Though all three looked forlorn, Helena looked the saddest. She spoke what all of the sisters were thinking, "Do you really think the navy will just, let us go?"
Of all the things that Commander could say he knew he had to be careful with this one. Lie and he punches debilitating holes in his credibility with these women. He felt some optimism was warranted. "I don't know. But what I do know is this," they perked up, "I know that if you surrender to fate, it will take you prisoner. And you will live your lives as captives. So, don't give up hope that things will turn out alright. Maintain that hope, and work for your goals, or they'll be lost forever. So, tell me, what is it you three want to do after the war?"
Honolulu relented and smiled, "I always wanted a beach house. You know, like those ones you see on the post cards? The ones with the sandy beaches and palm trees? I wanna feel the breeze in my hair every day and smell the ocean with every breath. I'll be home then."
Helena thought about all the things she would want to do. She really wanted to try and become as human as she could be, but above all else, "I want to own a huge library. I'll spend all day reading to get the answers I've always wanted or get lost in all sorts of stories that I've never heard before. I'll be me, and I'll be happy."
Nashville didn't know what she wanted after the war. She knew what she wanted right now, which is to be able to keep what's going on in her life. After all, she's happier now than she ever has been, and she had Las Vegas to thank for that. But does this all mean that she's going to want to stick with Las Vegas in the future like now? This was the kind of question she was going to have to think on. So, she will. But for now, she had to say something. "I don't really know what I want to do. I guess I'll live with my life and see what happens."
"Fair enough," Commander let out before smirking as if to set a challenge, "I look forward to seeing all of those plans play out. I'm sure it'll happen someday," then he did his joking smile, "You only gotta believe in yourself."
Nashville giggled and said, "Wow. That last part was cheesy. Do you seriously make up that stuff?"
"I usually get it off cat posters and the internet. But I'll be here all week."
They would talk about casual things for the next few hours until dinner was served. After that West Virginia informed the duo that it was planned that they would oversee the resupplying of what had been used aboard Nashville's hull over the past month. They did and once all of that was complete, they turned in for the night, ready to face whatever would come the next day.
For those of you that may be wandering, "Magic," is the name of the allied (predominantly American) initiative to crack the Japanese codes. "Ultra," was the British equivalent for the Enigma. Also, I had an odd realization as I was writing this chapter. I was finally able to write a chapter without Nashville crying in it. "Is this character development?" I ask myself. Maybe, we'll see. Another thing I've noticed is that I may have mislabeled this story's genre. I probably should have had the hurt/comfort or something like that. I'll probably still keep the adventure though; Nashville's sisters won't be going with the main characters around the world after all. But as for the mystery tag, well, I did mention, "something more sinister," in the story's summary and that's going to come into play soon, or at least foreshadowing (I'm not sure yet). But I will say this, what do you think of the work of H. P. Lovecraft? I'll leave it at that. But anyway there's a few reviews I see.
Thanks for your review morestories211pls! I have no plans to stop this until I get that perfect conclusion that I have in my head right now onto this website. Now all that's left is to see how long that takes.
It's nice to hear from you again xX-6throwaway9-Xx. I was originally going to introduce Helena first but for some reason when I typed her name for the first time it didn't look right to me. So, Honolulu came out. Also, in hindsight Helena is also a lot harder to write. And after seeing how it all went, I'm glad I introduced Honolulu first. Gotta love that Laffey antics, she was my starter kansen, so I had to do something. I also looked back over the Slade conversation and you have a point. But for now, I'm not so sure how big a role Slade is going to play. If it's big, I'll keep what you said in mind. Thanks for pointing that out. And thanks for your kind words.
Thanks, theberg for reviewing. I kinda agree with your assessment, a slower start, but I wanted to give a good base to build on. Anyways, thanks for looking forward to what's coming.
But anyway, it's late again where I am. So, I'll stop here. Take care, friends. If you are having a bad day I hope it gets better, and if you are having a good day I hope it gets even better.
