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"I ask them to stand calm and firm and united in this time of trial. The task will be hard. There may be dark days ahead and war is no longer confined to the battle field but we can only do the right as we see the right and reverently commend our cause to God."
-King George VI's speech following the U.K.'s declaration of war on Nazi Germany
Chapter 19: The Queen's Knights
No amount of technological sophistication can compensate for idiots. Nor can it compensate for bad luck, for that matter. However, in an effort to mitigate that the Heralds of the Deep had a standard procedure of only being able to send or receive a single radio transmission a day. Doing so prevented radio locating techniques like huff-duff from getting a definitive fix on the location of the transmission which would serve as a beacon leading unwanted attention to the holy houses, and it likewise helped make their cypher more secure by giving any prying codebreaker very little to work with. It was relatively fool proof, at the cost of being very slow. But that was the price of secrecy.
In the chaos of the day before during the Battle of the River Thames the London Branch of the Heralds of the Deep received a message from their highest leader, one they esteem as, "The Deep Seer." The Deep Seer's orders were a simple modification of the previous orders to remain vigilant for the Magician. "Kill the Magician," stated the new orders. It struck the members of the London Branch as odd that the orders would be to kill the Magician outright instead of capturing him for sacrifice. That left it to the priest to interpret as to why The Deep Seer would order something like that. He concluded that it had to do with the threat of the Magician. He explained that the Magician was so dangerous to their cause of ascension that spilling his blood anywhere was as good as spilling his blood on the alter in the Holy House.
In the spirit of this desire to spill blood as a sacrifice, the priest made a call that didn't make much sense in all honesty. The Magician would be killed wherever he stands by a sacrificial blade instead of the easier gunshot. This foolish and shortsighted plan could end up costing the priest everything, but he didn't think of that in the moment of his decision. In a cosmic sense of it all, such a decision shouldn't be too surprising considering the priest's own tenuous grasp on sanity and logic. But as a running theme of The Heralds of the Deep, they are willing to pay steep prices for the power to reach their end goals. Too bad that he didn't quite know exactly what those end goals are. Such knowledge is reserved for The Deep Seer only.
But that didn't matter. The priest, and everyone in the London Branch, would be faithful to the cause to the end. Orders were given and partners assigned for a strength of six men to fan out around London and find the Magician and once he was found, then all six would converge on him to sacrifice him, wherever he may be.
The foul host of the London Branch of The Heralds of the Deep got excited for what was to come. The Magician's end had come.
XXXXXXXX
By the time the Eagle Union duo plus their Royal allies exited the Main Building of the Ministry of Defense the afternoon had wasted into evening. They decided that for the moment, they would return to their collective hulls. The first thing that Nashville asked was, "I know that neither of you are stationed here in London, but do you know how do repairs work around here? I could really use some."
Hood thought for a few seconds as she hummed aloud. She said, "If it's major repairs, I would recommend waiting until we get back to Devonport because there are actual repair facilities there. But if it's minor you can submit a work order and repairs will commence probably tomorrow morning."
"It's minor repairs, just some armor plating that needs some straightening and a bit of reinforcing. Some paint would be nice too…"
Commander stopped paying attention to the exchange. It seemed that Nashville was doing well in organizing her repairs all on her own. So, he looked out towards the river. It was flowing peacefully, at the exact same pace that it was the last time he paid attention to it. It was as if nothing had ever happened. And, as a professional in the art of doing nothing, he enjoyed watching the flow as they walked. But eventually he felt a tapping on his shoulder. He honestly expected it to be Nashville, but when he looked, she was still talking pleasantly with Hood. He caught a complement about Nashville's new hair bow. But Duke of York had something to say to him. "Thou hast done well this day, O noble corsair."
He smiled thinly and replied, "I appreciate the complement but isn't it offensive to call someone, 'corsair?'"
"In fair seas and smooth sailing, 'twould be the case, however thou hast proven thy worth. Daresay, merit has come to thy words from a few days past when you said that proving the shameful label of pirate as baseless was thy aim."
"Perhaps. I was just trying to do what seemed best during the battle. I didn't mean to prove anything."
"With intention, or without; thou hast proven thyself. I am pleased. I know Hood well enough to witness that she is too. And verily, I foresee Her Majesty to be pleased herself when she arrives."
"Queen Elizabeth is coming? When?"
"As we sojourned in the Strait of Dover, Her Majesty informed me of her intention to come to London. I expect her arrival for tomorrow morning."
Commander hummed in acknowledgement of this new piece of information. He couldn't think of any comments, so he kept his mouth shut while they walked on for a few steps. But Duke of York wasn't finished talking. She said, "Thou explained in Her Majesty's tea party that thine objective is to break the blockade surrounding Europe. Initially, I supposed this a strange aim for a single Eagle Union officer and his one ship fleet, but the words of Supreme Commander Roscoe hint at a truth much deeper than I thought. And if my senses fail me not, said truth is much fouler than a fleet of submarines or ghost raiders."
Commander looked squarely at Duke of York. Well, she wasn't wrong. So, he admitted, "That's right."
"I would that you keep my services in mind when the time comes to make thy move."
He thought for a few seconds in consideration of her offer to help with the superweapon. This was extra striking to the officer when he considered that at the moment, Duke of York has not a clue of what they're up against. He said, "You remember what the supreme commander said. The less people who know, the better. But if you really can help with what we're up against, then I'll gladly take up the offer. But if you can't help, then please don't take it personally. But I must know, what can you do? Like, what are your abilities?"
Duke of York explained her abilities. It was when she explained her Concerto of Blood ability that caught his attention, for two reasons. The first and less important is that it was a subtle nod that confirmed to him that Duke of York was indeed a vampire, as if him seeing her fangs when she smiles wasn't confirmation enough. But the second, and more important reason was that the ability slowed down hit targets. That would be incredibly useful if they are up against a chaser class superweapon. Once Duke of York concluded her explanation, he remarked, "With abilities like that. I'll definitely keep you in mind."
"My thanks," she said, "As a knight I cannot let this threat lie."
The conversation tapered off and then with some time, the group reached where the bulk of the united fleet was docked. A few minutes passed while the fleet was assembled. A brief review of the battle occurred on Hood's now present hull, where it came to light that the radio message received at the beginning of the battle from Queen Elizabeth was a fake. Gasps erupted, but all in all, the crowd handled it well. But once the review was over, it was decided that they would go to the same pub from the day before for dinner, even in spite of Commander's objections of evil people hanging out there. Hood made it clear though that this was in no way a celebration for the victory. They would await Queen Elizabeth the next day before they did anything. So, no getting drunk. Nelson was the most put out by this.
At the pub, Commander was able to draw out that it was Swiftsure that started the London Garrison's charge down the Thames. He was impressed with her independence to come to the decision to defy orders as a Royal Knight. She admitted to being somewhat relieved to hear that the order to stand by had been false. It prevented her from being a traitor. With some patience to win over her shyness, Commander was able to draw more of the story from the Royal light cruiser. He was further impressed with her performance in the battle. If it was his determination to make, it sounded like she would have been the MVP of what had transpired, at least among the Royals. But nobody could hold a candle to Nashville's handling of the battle. A sort of awe overcame all who heard Hardy's account of watching Nashville almost rip a battleship in half. And everyone was more respectful and accepting towards the foreigners for what they had been able to contribute to the battle.
Dinner concluded without incident. Thankfully. Commander wasn't sure if he could handle another unsavory character like the creepy guy from the day before. He was unaware of the pairs of men that were currently looking for him. They hadn't found him yet, but it was only a matter of time.
The fleet moseyed their way back to the Pool of London to get some much-deserved sleep. But before separating for their own hulls, Hood and Belfast approached the duo. Hood looked apologetic and Belfast looked perturbed. Nashville and Las Vegas exchanged glances of concern before anybody spoke. Hood started, "I—we—wanted to apologize for not believing the two of you about the false order earlier."
Nashville smiled genuinely and said, "Well, it all worked out in the end. Nobody died, and we even won the battle. So, it's okay."
It seemed as if neither woman were expecting this answer. "Surely, it isn't just, 'Okay,'" insisted Belfast.
Attention shifted towards Commander as if he was expected to lay out some sort of penance for the Royals. He thought for a few seconds and could only agree with Nashville's sentiment. "Well, if you think about it, you two had every reason to think it was real, while we only had a gut feeling to go on. So, if anything, you two were in the right. And think about this from another perspective, if you had believed me and we all charged together, I bet someone would have either died or been seriously damaged in the initial torpedo barrage from the Sirens. So, what I'm trying to say is that everything played out perfectly. I'm of the opinion that there was no slight made. 'No harm, no foul,' as we say in the Eagle Union. But still, seeing as how you think that there is something to apologize for, I accept the apology. And now, all is well. Right?"
Hood laughed briefly to herself to relieve a build of stress on the issue. To Commander it looked like she was beating herself up about it over the course of the afternoon. But he noticed that Belfast still didn't look completely like herself, so he said, "Anything on your mind, Belfast?"
She looked at the four others present. She trusted Hood with her life, and she could tell that the foreigners were trustworthy, so she admitted, "I'm usually so much better at picking up when something isn't right."
Hood patted her on the shoulder and gave her a big smile to say that it was alright. Nashville recalled aloud, "This isn't the first time that the Sirens have tried something like this. They tried to do the same with us for the Battle of Windward Passage. We didn't believe it then because of circumstances right before the battle began but it shows that the Sirens are starting to wise up about how to fight us."
Commander interjected, "I agree with Nashville. The Sirens are crafty and are poised to get even craftier. What this occurrence is, is a wakeup call. A mistake was made, but you don't strike me as the kind to make the same mistake twice. Do you know the saying, 'Fool me once?'"
He gestured for the head maid to finish the sentence to drive the point home to her. She obliged him. "Shame on you."
"But fool me twice?" tested the officer.
"Shame on me," completed Belfast. Belfast relaxed and looked more at ease. She smiled. "Thank you," she said with a light bow and then she continued with a promise, "This won't happen again."
"That's what I like to hear," concluded Las Vegas. The group parted and the duo arrived at Nashville's hull to get to sleep for the day tomorrow. Before they separated, Las Vegas complimented Nashville with, "You did really good today. I'm glad it's you that I was assigned with."
Nashville beamed with a smile from ear to ear. That was the best thing that she had heard all day. He was glad to be with her. That made her feel all sorts of warm and happy inside. Without warning she bounded over and fixed him in a goodnight hug. He was honestly kind of surprised at this, but he rolled with it. She returned the compliment to him, noting that he was getting better at working under pressure. But she finished off with words that would ring around his head for the rest of the night, "I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am that I was assigned with you too."
For some reason this was the first hint he picked up on that she saw him as something deeper than a friend like he had previously thought. She didn't pick up on the effect her last words had on her commander. She just said what was coming natural to her. Final wishes of goodnight were exchanged, and they parted for their respective quarters. Nashville fell asleep quickly, due to how at peace she was. But Commander took more time to get to sleep because he was tackling a question in his mind. To what extent is he glad to be assigned alongside Nashville?
XXXXXXXX
The next day came and it commenced as expected. During morning exercises with Nashville, she was starting to have to hold back just a little less due to her commander's lesson the day prior with Belfast the head-maid-commando-person. Nashville had to smile and reminisce a bit of those first few days of exercise when he did absolutely pathetic against her. She complemented how far he had been able to come. He thanked her, and she replied with by saying, "You're welcome," like a normal person, and then she proceeded to knock him flat on his rear with an only slightly deflected jab. She remarked, "Don't interpret this as me gloating, but how are you able to get back up and keep going even if you're going to lose most of the time?"
She held out her hand to help him up, which he accepted. He smiled and said, "Well first of all, you do this. Holding out your hand—I mean. It's hard to say no to that. Then from there, I know that it's nothing personal on your part, and it also really helps that you're a good sport about winning all of the time. And besides, I've only used a knife against you for the sake of exercise, which really helps by the way, but if we were actually going to go for it, I'd have my pistol on me, and if you didn't get your rigging out, the ratio of wins to losses would be reversed."
She challenged him back, "Ooooohhhh. Rrrrriiiiiiight. Your fabled gunslinger skills. 'All talk,' I say."
He shook his head and said, "Fabled only because you've never seen it."
"I am a seeing-is-believe type of girl," admitted Nashville. "So, why haven't I seen it?"
"Mainly because I'm not a meat-headed mouth breather with a machismo fragile enough to feel the need to show off something like gunslinging."
"You sound like you've met a few of those, 'meat-headed mouth breathers,' before," she observed.
"Sure have. I've beaten them too in competition."
"Competition?"
"Competitive pistol shooting. A random invitation from the friend of a friend got me into it one weekend. I turned out to be pretty good at it, so I kept with it in high school and then for the first two years of college, before my major got too busy. It's actually pistol shooting that made me fall out of fencing funny enough. And then when I got into the military and went through basic training, I had thought that my years of not practicing would kill any skill I had, but oddly enough it only took a few days, and I was pretty close in speed and marksmanship to what I was before. It turns out that a lot of it was muscle memory. But I'm an abysmal shot with a rifle. So, don't ask me to do that."
She laughed a little and sarcastically questioned, "I don't suppose that you practice a quick draw too? Like some old west outlaw?"
Nashville had meant for this question to by rhetorical, and thus unanswered because she had thought that him doing this would be ridiculous. But it was true, he did practice drawing his pistol quickly. On occasion he would practice if for no other reason than to confirm that he still had the skill. He smirked but didn't answer Nashville's inquiry. Her eyebrows shot upwards, and she asked disbelievingly, "You do?"
He nodded slowly and explained, "In competition anyone and their mother can move between targets quickly and hit the center but drawing the pistol and getting that first shot off accurately makes all the difference. That's what made me so good at the sport."
"Damn. I'm impressed. But now you seriously have to show off to me sometime. I'm way too curious to let this go now."
He agreed to do it some other day and they were able to finish up not long after. Once both were ready for the day and had eaten something they decided that they would again stay aboard so that they could wait for whatever Queen Elizabeth would want to do once she arrives and so that they can oversee the commencement of Nashville's repairs. Hood had notified them that because Manjuu are secret in the same way that ship girls are, they would have to rely on human technicians to get the job done while they were in London.
Eventually the technicians showed up and after finding out what needed to be done the foreman gave an estimate of a week given the extent of the damage. He made sure that the Eagle Union duo understood how lucky they were that the damage wasn't more serious, or the rather small London repair team wouldn't have had the equipment to fix it. And that would mean having to brave a sail for who knows how long and meet a floating drydock out in waters that raiders and submarines frequent, because the floating drydock would normally be in a place that was currently a recovering warzone at the mouth of the river.
Now came the easy part of everything. They waited. As they waited, Nashville would oversee the repairs of her hull and Commander would get to work on a freshly intercepted code for the Siren low security cypher that had indeed been updated after the battle. Come to think of it, if they're going to be in London for a week for the repairs, he should also take a look at the medium security cypher to see if it's been updated. If it has been updated, re-cracking it could take a week or two, but getting started sooner rather than later always helps. He passed the time accompanied by the sound of rock music and his fingers on a holographic keyboard crunching numbers. For some odd reason, he found himself wondering where Cheshire was. Hopefully, she wasn't up to no good.
At about mid-morning he stood up from his workstation on Nashville's bridge to take a stretch. He looked out into the river to give his eyes a brief respite from staring at a screen all morning. But as he looked up and down the river, he saw a few extra warships come around a bend in the river. He wagered that it was Queen Elizabeth plus her escorts. He saw what he thought to be Prince of Wales, and he saw an aircraft carrier. It could be Illustrious, but it just as easily could be someone else. Finally, he decided to stop guessing who he was looking at and he picked up the binoculars on Nashville's bridge to find out. Sure enough, he saw Queen Elizabeth, Prince of Wales, and Illustrious. So, the whole Royal Court is in London. That made Commander somewhat suspicious of Queen Elizabeth. What does she have planned?
Whatever the case may be, he decided that he would stay on the bridge and keep doing what he was doing until he was sought out for. Little did he know that this was the smartest possible thing that he could have done. Six men of nefarious intent stood watch at various places around the dock where Nashville was berthed. The Heralds had found their prey, now they just needed to wait for their opportunity to strike.
Commander plugged away further at his code to try and make the journey back to Devonport all the safer and then make the action against the superweapon much smoother without raiders or submarines breathing down their necks. At times, he would look outside to watch the gymnastics of tugboats pushing and pulling warships that are in all honesty, probably a bit too big for the river to properly handle, at least in this quantity of them. But that wasn't his business. Well, so long as none of them got stuck and blocked the river. Now that would be embarrassing.
Time passed all the way into early afternoon and he got a message from Nashville that appeared on Mr. Bond's screen. It seemed that Her Majesty and her entourage had finally arrived. Nashville was relaying their request to see him. He sent the response, "Let them aboard. No place to properly entertain them. Thoughts?"
Nashville responded a few seconds later. "Queen Elizabeth says that the bridge is preferable, even if seating is lacking."
He typed out jokingly, "I'll try to make the place presentable as quick as I can." There really wasn't anything to clean. But he found the joke funny to himself at least.
"Haha. Be there in a second," she responded. Her mild amusement was apparent to him and he smirked a bit. At least he could turn off the music. Which he did.
Not three minutes passed and the hatch that led onto the bridge opened, and Nashville led the group of royals in. He stood from his seat out of respect. He watched as the group entered. Time for an internal roll call. Queen Elizabeth. Check. Hood. Check. Illustrious. Check. Duke of York and Prince of Wales. Check. What surprised him a bit were the maids. Belfast, Sirius, Sheffield, and Gloucester. Wow. Queen Elizabeth was pulling out all the stops.
Once everyone was inside, he started to speak. "Welcome aboard, Queen Elizabeth. Ladies. We might not have the means to entertain very well, but please feel welcome."
"We appreciate the welcome, Calico Jack," replied Queen Elizabeth. "I must say though, it feels much longer than just three days since we last saw each other."
Calico Jack chuckled in response and said, "I wholeheartedly agree." He then moved aside from his workstation and motioned to his own chair. "Please, take a seat." She thanked him and advanced to accept the offer. He joined Nashville as she stood a few feet away, leaning on the navigation table and Queen Elizabeth's entourage naturally congregated off to the side a bit. In all honesty, it kind of felt like court trial with how things were set up. It made him a little uncomfortable, but that didn't stop him from observing aloud as Queen Elizabeth sat with a sigh, "You look tired."
Murmurs of agreement arose from the entourage. It seemed that Queen Elizabeth has had her hands full for the past day or so. She admitted, "I had hoped you wouldn't notice."
"I happen to be a mite experienced with burning the midnight oil."
Queen Elizabeth smiled a little and then she spoke, "It feels quite strange, but circumstances say that we have to do things out of order a bit. I'd quite like to have started this meeting of ours with tea or something informal like that, but worse things have happened in the past than simply waiting. So, let's get down to business. Shall we?"
"Let's," bade Calico Jack.
Queen Elizabeth gestured to the two Unionists and began, "First and foremost, I would like to offer my most sincere gratitude for what the both of you have done over the past twenty-four hours in the service of the United Kingdom."
"Sure thing," offered Nashville.
"Anytime," said her commander.
"Do you truly mean what you say, Calico Jack? 'Anytime?'"
He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, given the same problem and wanting the same outcome means doing the same thing. I certainly intend to keep wanting the same outcome of helping people, that's for sure. So, yeah. Anytime."
He watched as Queen Elizabeth nodded deeply. It was like this was what she wanted to hear. She was going somewhere with this. But he decided to just wait and watch instead of prying. Queen Elizabeth saw that the pirate was starting to get suspicious of something. For good reason. She was certain that he wouldn't foresee what was to happen at the end of this conversation. She resumed, "Hood has recounted to me what occurred during the battle. And she took the liberty of recalling the meeting that you two and her along with Duke of York had with Supreme Commander Roscoe yesterday. I have a question about that meeting, but we'll get to that in a few minutes. First a detail that she mentioned." She pointed at the trench-whistle-wielding leather lanyard that looped around one of his uniform's epaulets. "What is that?"
He pulled out the trench whistle and he spared a few seconds to look at it as it dangled from his grasp. It was radiant even in the low light of the rain during the battle. But now, when it wasn't raining and the sun hung in the sky interspersed by the occasional cloud, it was truly brilliant. He smiled lightly. A poetic part of him felt comforted that he was able to maintain the brilliant shine of the whistle in the face of adversity. Still, he loosed the lanyard and passed the item to the teenage queen. She looked at the stamped markings on the side, "1918," she observed. "Is this an original?"
"Yes."
She passed the item between her fingers to be able to observe it from all angles. "It's a difficult thing to describe, Calico Jack. All of us ship girls know the feeling, but I fear that you never will understand the novelty of handling something of the same vintage as ourselves. But in this instance, I stand alone among those present to remember anything from the Great War." She paused and asked, "How did this come into your hands?"
"It was a gift from one Rear admiral Keisha Slade. We worked alongside her fleet in Miami. That whistle was the property of her great grandfather, who was a captain in the Eagle Union Army. She had said that it was a symbol of courage and duty no matter the odds among her family. So, I try to keep that meaning alive."
"An heirloom?"
"I voiced the same objection to Rear admiral Slade, but she practically insisted that I take it. But yeah, there isn't anything quite like the order, 'over the top,' to get one to action."
"Why didn't you order the London Garrison into battle? You had the authority to do so."
"To be perfectly honest, the possibility hadn't crossed my mind. I guess that I'm just not the type to force something like going into battle. And besides, in my experience—however lacking it may be—I have found inspiring others to be far more effective than ordering them."
Queen Elizabeth smiled again. "Inspiring instead of ordering. Now that is the hallmark of a good leader."
Voices of agreement came from those off to the side. That's the kind of complement that can have a guy walking on sunshine for a few days. "Thank you," he said simply, to try and keep the attention from getting to his head. Nashville gave him a pat on the back and a big smile. What Queen Elizabeth just said is part of the reason she really liked her current commander.
Queen Elizabeth switched gears and stated, "When you had said that your objective was to break the blockade around Europe, I had figured that you would be the first of a number of Eagle Union support to get a secret offensive out to sea, but my opinion has now changed. Your meeting with Supreme Commander Roscoe has inspired in me a question, and the response to Hood's question from that meeting raises a grave possibility. You have the authority of both Supreme Commander Roscoe and Chairwoman Eriko Hara of the Crimson Axis. This is completely unheard of. What could possibly be important enough to give one man so much power? And you better not tell me it's just a fleet of submarines or raiders that we don't know about."
He held his hands palms out and admitted, "You've backed me into a corner. I can either lie or simply decline to answer." He paused to think about his answer a little and then he asked, "Well, what do you think is worth giving a man that much power?"
It seemed that nobody had expected this answer. Queen Elizabeth racked her brain for possibilities. But she was limited by her imagination. Said imagination being clever ways of deploying known Siren technology or perhaps stretching it. It was Belfast who had the insight to answer for everyone. He had expected Duke of York if for no other reason than the conversation that he had with her the day before, but maybe she was aiming for heightened drama. Or maybe her offer really was that blindly offered? No matter. He listened to Belfast speak, "There's something out there. Something that none of us know about. Something that only you, Nashville, Supreme Commander Roscoe, and Chairwoman Hara know about. But whatever that something is, it's forcing a stalemate, and your objective is to destroy it. And based on the amount of authority you have; I assume that there are multiple somethings around the world."
The ship girls of the Royal Navy watched as Calico Jack sighed heavily. He said, "That…is a safe assumption."
"What the hell is hiding under the water, Calico Jack?" demanded Queen Elizabeth.
"We don't know," informed Calico Jack. That hit the royal navy ship girls present like a torpedo. Calico Jack not knowing unsettled them more than expected. But in spite of this feeling, he continued, "At least, we don't know specifically. We were going to start to look for ways to find out specifics after our business had concluded here in London, but you know. We got sidetracked by a battle."
"What is it generally?" asked the queen.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that."
Queen Elizabeth was starting to lose her patience. She slowly rose from her seat as she commanded, "Dammit Calico Jack! What are these things?! If these somethings are such a big threat, why hasn't anything been done so far?!" Without really thinking about it, Nashville and Calico Jack exchanged a glance. This quick, instinctive gesture wasn't lost on Queen Elizabeth, who now quietly concluded aloud, "Something has been done. But it didn't work, so you're here now." She sank back into the seat and rested her head in one of her palms as her elbow sat on the arm rest. "So, it's very dangerous. Do you know how many of my subjects have fallen victim to these somethings? If you never answer anything else from me, please, tell me this."
Calico Jack had sympathy upon the teenage-looking queen. He respected that of all things she could have answered, it concerned those who looked up to her as a leader. Nashville patted him on the back to get his attention. She nodded to give her opinion on the request. He said, "We only know definitively about two Royal Navy ship girls who have fallen victim to these somethings. Their names are London and Dido."
Silence fell over the bridge. Not even breathing was heard for a few seconds. This was broken by the clacking of heels that brought Calico Jack's attention to Sirius, who had left the sideline to place herself directly in front of the officer. With tears in her eyes and a shake in her voice she asked, "Where is Dido? Where is my sister?"
Right now, Calico Jack had to tread very carefully. Death at best wounds whatever it touches, and no matter what he could say he can't make it better for Sirius, but she sure can make it worse. So, he opted for the more formal route, according as he knew the military did things. He said, "I must inform you that your sister was reported dead in the Indian Ocean about eight months ago. She died in the line of duty. I'm sorry for your loss." He paused and nobody said anything quite yet. Sirius had gone numb. But then something came to his mind and he asked Sirius, "Were you never told anything about what happened to Dido?" She shook her head. "Nothing? Not even a filler story like she's missing or something like that?" She shook her head again. A few more moments of silence passed and then he finished with, "I'm so sorry that it took so long to get word to you."
Sirius would have become angry with the messenger of this news, but the sincerity in his voice told her that he was genuinely sorry for what had happened to her. Only now did she notice something. The bandage that had been holding her together since her sister had left was ripped off. Tears were streaming down Sirius's face. She clasped her hands in front of her and looked down towards the deck, now unable to look the Union Officer in the eye. She felt alone all over again.
Belfast, Sheffield, and Gloucester made a single step forward to comfort their fellow maid and escort her from the bridge because she clearly wasn't in a condition to continue being here. Queen Elizabeth gestured for them to stay put. They complied, knowing full well that Queen Elizabeth always has a plan. And this time was no different. Though impromptu, this was Calico Jack's final test in the super dreadnaught's eyes.
Sirius's attention was shifted slightly up from the deck when she noticed one of Calico Jack's hands dive into one of his pockets. From it he produced a white handkerchief. He held it out for the royal maid, and she accepted it, using it to dab her eyes. For some reason, the simple gesture of kindness let the maid pull herself together. Finally, she responded to what Calico Jack had said last, "It's okay that it took so long to hear anything." She paused for a few seconds, finally lifting her eyes to meet his gaze, and then continued, "I might not know what these somethings are, but please, take me with you when you go to destroy it."
They stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds. Sirius was pleading her desire while Calico Jack was making his decision. He offered, "I won't say no outright. But please, let's discuss this when you're in a better state of mind." Sirius graced him with a thin smile and a nod of gratitude. She thought that she was fine to stay on the bridge, but Queen Elizabeth beckoned the maids forward to still escort Sirius out. A few seconds passed and the maids left, each given a small bow as a way to excuse themselves.
The hatch to the bridge closed, leaving the union duo and the royal court. Queen Elizabeth spoke first, "More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness."
He smiled and remarked, "Déjà vu."
Nashville gave him a big pat on the back and congratulated him. "You're getting better already."
"Better at what?" chimed in Illustrious for the first time since arriving.
"You'd never believe it," claimed Nashville, "But this guy's weakness isn't something normal like a woman's cleavage but a woman's crying."
Attention shifted towards the codebreaker. He defended himself by saying, "What? Is it wrong that sad things make me sad too?"
"Not at all. I think that it's a very gentlemanly weakness to have," said Prince of Wales.
"Masculinity sure has changed," noted Hood.
"For better or for worse?" asked Calico Jack.
Duke of York gave her opinion, "Aged like a fine wine, methinks it better now than then, but with different metrics of measure."
"Fair enough," noted Calico Jack. "But I get the impression that there is still more going on here. What with all five of you being present."
"How does it feel, Calico Jack?" lightly taunted Queen Elizabeth with a big smirk on her face. "This time, I know something you don't."
"Well, so long as it isn't anything potentially life threatening, or humiliating, I think that I can be patient. But I won't lie, you've stoked my curiosity," he admitted with a shrug.
"In a moment," teased the queen. "There is one more thing I want to ask you, before we get into the thing I know but not you."
"That's diabolical," proclaimed the pirate. "But what is this last thing?"
"Do either of you have anything to do with a message I received this morning about a transfer for Commodore Jeremy Smithers out of Devonport?"
Nashville answered, "We may have mentioned his name to a certain high-ranking officer that isn't a fan of Smithers."
Queen Elizabeth smirked and said, "I knew it."
Illustrious started to speak, and that got the foreigners' attention. "From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Having met him yourselves, surely you can imagine that being like this is difficult around him." She gestured lightly to herself as she spoke. Agreement came from the other royals.
Nashville spoke again, "You're welcome. That guy reminded me too much of my last captain."
Calico Jack shrugged again and added on his two cents, "I didn't like him for the above reasons." He cleverly left out of his explanation a quote from a certain video game character who famously declared, "NOTHING IS MORE BADASS THAN TREATING A WOMAN WITH RESPECT!"
A blissful silence befell the people aboard Nashville's bridge. Eventually Calico Jack admitted, "I hadn't expected such craziness when we came to the U.K. Is it like this all the time?" He was referring to the battle from the day before.
"I hope you'll pardon my accusation, but I think that you carried the madness with you, because it is never like this," remarked Prince of Wales. None of them really knew just how right she was. The battle never would have happened if Calico Jack wasn't in England. But the phenomenon of madness accompanying Calico Jack would only become a problem later.
Right now though, Queen Elizabeth had something to say. "I feel that this madness is catching. I think that all of us have been possessed of it for the past day or so. And in this past day, an idea so mad has come to me and then been corroborated with everyone else here that I can scarcely believe it!" Calico Jack was seriously starting to get suspicious of what was happening. He prepared himself for anything. But the queen continued unabated by his internal musings and external suspicions, "Interacting with you has reminded me of my complacency. I seem to have forgotten that to be respected or trusted, I have to respect and trust. Up until only about twenty-four hours ago, I did so begrudgingly but I would like to try something different. I am honored that you would be so trusting of us, especially enough to venture the risk that you took on the London Garrison that they would ignore the order that bore my name, but not my blessing at the risk of your own lives. And then I am likewise honored that you would trust us enough to at least somewhat confirm suspicions as to what is hurting the war effort in the waters despite it's level of classification. In return for these, we would like to trust you."
Based on his facial expression, Calico Jack was right where Queen Elizabeth wanted him to be. Time to drop the bomb. "You made a comment in jesting a few days ago when you visited my office. You said that you would accept a knighthood if I asked nicely. And I had said I would consider it." Then Queen Elizabeth sat straighter in her seat and swallowed what was left of her pride. "I also said that I always have need of more people with your character, Calico Jack. So, in light of this need, would you please accept a knighthood?"
Nashville whispered but not so quietly, "Holy shit. She really did consider it."
Well, Queen Elizabeth sure got him good. He had not a clue that it would come to this. But he could scarcely believe his own ears, in fact, he asked, "I don't think I was paying attention close enough. Could you run that by me again?"
Queen Elizabeth smirked. She had won this engagement. But she was completely serious. So, she repeated herself. "I want you for a knight. Do you accept?"
"That's what I thought you said," he said numbly. "Well, uh… What sort of expectations are there for a knight? Or more specifically, what sort of expectations are there for your knights? Because, I mean, I'm not completely averse to the idea. It's just that I don't wanna swear any oaths that I can't or won't keep."
Of all the famous cases of, "There are two kinds of people…" Queen Elizabeth found that what Calico Jack had just said was quite telling of his character. He wanted to know the price before he knew what it was that he was buying. She said, "Well, as much as I would love to demand absolute loyalty, I have the distinct impression that you would decline and feel somewhat insulted. So, I won't ask this of you. But other than that…" Queen Elizabeth had to laugh a little and then she said, "Normally swearing an oath of chivalry would require some changes in personal conduct, but if I am perfectly honest, you conduct yourself as if you already were a knight."
Calico Jack had to smile and revel in the oddity of hearing his own joking remark, "Now that's a thought. Picture if there were knights in Las Vegas." It was quite novel to imagine knights in shining armor patrolling the Las Vegas Strip among crowds of people. "But still, I would like to know the expectations regardless, even if I already match up with them."
Queen Elizbeth crossed her arms and said, "I can go over them exhaustively, however, I am of the opinion that much better sources of information would be either Prince of Wales or Duke of York. Approach them with general questions. The only expectation that I absolutely must insist upon for you is to keep doing what you have done so far and do all in your means to protect the innocent and those who cannot fight in their own defense. I would have you swear to do this at all costs, and never abandon them."
Nashville jumped in now to say, "That's cool and all but what sort of benefits are there for my commander?"
"Aside from prestige? It will make it all the easier to do what you can do already. That is, enlist assistance of the Royal Navy in fighting these, 'somethings,' and it will let you get into ports in the Commonwealth with nothing but your word. Because to be perfectly honest, you would never had been allowed to enter into Devonport a few days ago unless Prince of Wales had come upon the two of you. You would have had to be searched otherwise and then you might have been permitted to enter. It will become easier to get supplies and repairs at commonwealth ports. While a Writ of Commandeering will get you both of those things, a knighthood will get you to the top of the waiting list. Finally, and I think most valuable to you will be that a knighthood serves as my personal seal of approval among the ship girls of the Royal Navy. You would be trusted on principle, because such an honor is a sign that I trust you. So, in other words, your credibility would become an asset enough to outweigh your disadvantage of anonymity, without having to sacrifice said anonymity. So, what do you say, Calico Jack? Tempted?
"I am tempted," said the pirate. He brought a hand up to his chin in a few seconds of thought and then he said, "Would it be alright if I talk this over with Nashville before giving an answer?"
Nashville had to smile. Of course, he would say something like that. Queen Elizabeth nodded, having expected him to say this, so she replied, "We will permit it, however while you two are speaking, is there anything that you would like myself and my court to consider?"
Both Unionists passed a few seconds trying to come up with anything that may be important and while Calico Jack couldn't think of anything, Nashville had a different perspective. There had been a time when she had to call the Crimson Axis her enemy, and it took her some time to wrap her head around thinking of them as allies. And from what Duke of York had said when they had breakfast together in Devonport about the foreigners being collaborators with the enemy, it could be gathered that not all ship girls were as open to the idea of Crimson colored allies as Nashville was. She spoke up knowing that Las Vegas would if it came to his mind, "It's a guarantee that we'll be working alongside the Iron Blood and Sakura at some point, and likely the other countries of the Crimson Axis."
Glances shifted back and forth among the royals. Hood spoke for the court, "This is worthy of consideration on our part. But what do you say about this likelihood, Calico Jack?"
He didn't have to think too hard before he recalled the ambition that he discovered right after the battle against Lusca, "Azur Lane was at war with the Crimson Axis only a few years ago, but when the Sirens became the issue, an alliance was formed to beat away these invaders. Since both factions are in this together, and because I believe that we're all human, I believe wholeheartedly that the people of the Crimson Axis deserve the same peace as the people of Azur Lane. The innocent and defenseless here are the same as the innocent and defenseless there. And though it will be hard, and everyone will have to put aside their pride, I want little more than to see a safer, stronger, and more united humanity. I want to see a humanity where one's origins, beliefs, or whatever may have traditionally divided us is no longer relevant. A few years before the Eagle Union Civil War, the man who would become president during that war said that a house divided against itself cannot stand. Whether we like it or not, all of humanity has become one house now, affronted by a single cause. And if we let ourselves become divided and forbid ourselves the possibility to learn and to change, then I fear that all struggles up until this point will have become in vain, and we will march steadily towards ruin."
Silence permeated the bridge after the impromptu speech. But then Duke of York commented, "It seemeth to mine eyes and ears that thou art already taken in a code of chivalry."
Prince of Wales followed up on her sister's words by asking, "Regardless of what I think of the Crimson Axis, how did you get so principled?"
Calico Jack chuckled for a few seconds and answered, "Well, uh, I suppose that I've spent enough of my life serving myself and have recently decided to try serving others, and so far, there have been enough signs that say to me that this was a good decision to make."
Not much longer after that being said, it was agreed upon that the group would separate. Due to only being two people, the foreigners left the visitors on the bridge and climbed down the stairs from the conning tower to come out on the deck. Nashville and Las Vegas didn't see it, but from various places on the street nearby, six men standing in pairs separate from one another got excited because they had expected that now would be their chance to kill the magician. To their disappointment, they would have to wait a little longer for their chance because their quarry didn't leave his ship.
But that hazard would come later because right now, the duo found themselves leaning against the side of the number three turret, having been guided there by Nashville away from where the four Royal Maids stood watch nearby the gangway. They passed in silence for a few seconds before Las Vegas spoke, "It's pretty crazy. I would have thought something like this would be impossible not a day ago."
"Same," she replied Nashville. "Do you suspect foul play from Elizabeth?"
"A little," he admitted. "It's clear to everyone that she can't order us to do anything. And if I heard correctly, she won't insist on an oath of loyalty to her, which I will point out is a huge concession for her, but it seems she's trying to take a route that lets her give us suggestions and try to make us feel obligated to do what she wants."
"Well, we've done pretty well so far in seeing through her. If we can keep that up, I think that we would be okay. And besides, so long as her suggestions are in line with the greater good, it shouldn't be a problem."
"The only problem with that would be the question, 'Whose greater good are we talking about?'" pointed out the codebreaker.
Nashville thought for a few seconds on that before she ventured, "I think that that's a good question to ask ourselves. I can tell that you refer to everyone's greater good. And to be honest, when you talk about helping all of humanity, it really makes you sound like some kind of hero."
He snorted a little and retorted, "I'm no hero. I'm just…me."
She disregarded that last statement as being one not worth arguing about, so she just continued on her previous train of thought. "For myself, I used to only think about the Eagle Union's greater good, but I guess your hopeless idealism has been rubbing off on me, so I'm with you about trying to help all humanity. But the way I see it, we gave them the ultimatum in mentioning that we will work with the Crimson Axis at some point. There's the chance we go back in there and they say that they aren't interested anymore."
"Good point. But…Do you think that this is a good idea? Because by what Queen Elizabeth laid out, she definitely tried to make this offer as attractive as possible. Those benefits would really help in a pinch, and the downsides are barely noticeable."
"I think it's a good idea," said Nashville. "And if she's lying to us and she tries to stab us in the back, then we would have every right to stab her back."
"Let's hope it won't come to that extreme. But you're right about that." He paused as if to give them a last chance to change their minds. It didn't happen, so he said, "We in agreement to go for it?"
"Yep."
He had a thought. "Wanna see if we can get you a knighthood too?"
"Sorry. But I'm not interested in being HMS Nashville."
"Alrighty then. Let's get back on the bridge."
They ascended the stairs to find that no sound was leaving the bridge. It seemed that the royals had either finished their discussion, or they were only speaking quietly. He looked to Nashville, knowing that by being on her hull, she would know what they were doing. She nodded and whispered that they had finished. And she never intercepted any messages to say that they were communicating through their radio. She led the way back into the room, and nobody took any offense to what may seem like barging in. Any ship girl would know what's going on if this meeting was on their hull. "So, do you need a few more minutes at all?" asked Calico Jack for no other reason than propriety.
"No. We're all finished discussing," dismissed Hood.
"What is your answer, Calico Jack?" inquired the queen.
He smiled and recollected aloud, "Well, you did say please. So, yes, I'll go through with this."
"Are you certain?" asked Illustrious, not all that convinced by his joking answer.
Then something happened that only Hood and Nashville had been able see so far. The collective watched as the man's eyes filled with fire and determination conquered his features. Nashville smiled to herself with satisfaction. Now this was the man that she would follow to hell and back. Hood found herself equally impressed now as she did when he decided to charge without the London Garrison. Duke of York was surprised to see this transformation. She didn't dislike the determination that glowed on the man's countenance. To her eyes, it was like watching a man become a work of art, like a sculpture of Michelangelo. Prince of Wales found her indecision for how she looked at him resolve itself. She had seen his intrepidity in the face of danger when he and Nashville had arrived and fought the raiders off Falmouth, but when she spoke to him, she hadn't been impressed. In fact, when she spoke to him, there was something about him that prevented her from trusting him genuinely. Torn between these two observations, she couldn't decide what to think of him. But not anymore, now she thought well of him. The most radical change of opinion that occurred in this moment was with Illustrious. Having seen how he conducted himself with Unicorn and with Cheshire, she knew that he was a nice guy, but nevertheless, she couldn't shake the feeling that he was more talk than anything. Illustrious gasped silently at the sudden change. Her interest was now piqued towards the man that could surprise her with the light that he wielded. In fact, her interest was piqued in a way that in an alternate reality where she was ignorant of Nashville's or Cheshire's feelings for the man, she would very well have considered testing the water. And then he looked directly at her, for having issued the challenge, and he said with equal determination, "Yes. I'm certain." Illustrious then nodded on the outside but on the inside, she was fighting to get herself under control, because she had nearly swooned at being spoken to with such radiant determination.
From where she sat, Queen Elizabeth grinned with smug satisfaction, having finally been justified in deciding to extend a knighthood to Calico Jack. Initially, when she had taken counsel with the other Royal Court members present, only Hood had truly been in favor of the one that had once accused of being a pirate. So, Hood and Queen Elizabeth had pushed this harder to convince the other court members, and the skeptics went along with it, if for no other reason than to placate their queen. But now, as she glanced over the faces of those that she trusted with her life and certainly her realm, she could tell that their resistance to the idea of making Calico Jack a knight was fading rapidly with each passing moment.
Queen Elizabeth stood from her seat to get everyone's attention and she said, "Good. And since you have given a fine display of determination, we shall be benevolent and overlook your future correspondence with the Crimson Axis and maintain the offer of knighthood."
"Excellent," said Calico Jack. "So, what now?"
"I will tell you a story about the formation of my order of knights," answered the queen. "I know not how the Eagle Union assembled their ship girl force, but here we were created in small batches of five or six at a time from the wisdom cubes as they became available. All of us present were created from the first three batches of ship girls. Understanding that we would have to organize to be effective, we were permitted to do so at our discretion. Why? I suspect it was a test of our humanity. But whatever the case may be, I was made queen and we created knights in lieu of times before any of us set sail as normal warships. When the time came, and we were presented before Her Majesty, The Queen of England, she legitimized our order of knights. She dubbed it, 'The Order of the Round Table,' wishing unto us success worthy of becoming our own legends for thousands of years to come, like King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table."
"That's actually pretty cool," admitted Calico Jack.
"I had a feeling that you would say something like that," said Queen Elizabeth. And then she continued, "You may wield many secrets and tricks, but even you have your patterns. I suppose I could say, 'patterns like a maths or science problem.'"
He grinned widely at the analogy. He was ready, and we saw an opportunity at a movie reference, so he went for it. "Who are you, who are so wise in the ways of science?"
Queen Elizabeth smiled back, understanding the reference, and seeing that now was the time. She gestured for Duke of York, who was standing close, to loan the monarch her sword. It was given and the queen responded, "I am Elizabeth, Queen of the Britons."
Calico Jack crossed the few steps between himself and the dreadnaught queen. He kneeled and said with, "My liege."
To the astonishment of all present—and even greater astonishment of those who understood what was going on—Queen Elizabeth proceeded. She figured that this arraignment was entirely unconventional so she might as well humor the man by inviting, "Good sir knight, will you come with me to Camelot and join us at the Round Table?"
He looked up to meet Queen Elizabeth's gaze. They were enjoying this far too much. He responded, "My liege, I would be honored."
"What is your name?" requested Queen Elizabeth. She was internally going insane with how much she was enjoying a light-hearted ceremony for once in her life, in spite of the fact that she shouldn't be enjoying something as grossly informal as this.
"Calico Jack, my liege." He was shocked that Elizabeth was going through with this sort of knighting. He was certain that she would want to go through with the knighting in some sort of huge, stereotypical royal ball sort of event.
She brought down Duke of York's black-bladed long sword to tap his right shoulder with the flat of the blade, then the left shoulder, and then the right again. As she did this she said, "Then I dub you, Sir Calico Jack, Knight of the Round Table."
Hello everyone. It seems like it has been a while. But I have to laugh a little. There are fanfics on hiatus for years between updates and here I am beating myself up for making you wait nearly two weeks instead of the usual eight or nine days. Let me explain. The semester at my university is rolling into the final weeks and the workload is starting to really weigh me down. I can't spend as much time writing daily as I usually would, and I can't write every day. So, looks like my goal of getting into the second superweapon fight before the semester is over might not happen. No matter. We'll get there soon enough. That's the really big announcement that I needed to get off my chest. But in other news. What did you think of the chapter? I guess all that I can say is that I really like the legend of King Arthur. I'd bet that was obvious enough to all of you reading. As a side note, the funny thing to me is that Monty Python was my first exposure to Arthurian Legend when I was like eight or nine years old. Anyhow, I see some reviews.
Hi, HeronLsL. I'll sure try my hardest to keep surprising. Concerning Observer's character, I have a sort of odd experience with her in particular. I saw the anime Azur Lane: The Animation. Twice. The first was with the subs and when we were introduced to Observer and she threatened Akashi I could tell she was the bad guy. But when I watched the show for the second time but dubbed (out of morbid curiosity and laughs at how bad the dub is), I was taken aback with how creepy Observer's voice was. Now that was evil. I'd say that Observer's voice was the only thing improved on in the dub. Her sounding creepy in my head thanks to the dub led to her being a creepy character in my story. I keep having her kill off her subordinates because I think that Darth Vader is the greatest villain in all of fiction, and he kills subordinates for their failures all the time. And why not? There are tons of replacement henchmen to go around. Besides, I like to use Observer as a contrast to Las Vegas. Observer doesn't give second chances to learn and grow to her subordinates. Las Vegas does. I'm glad that the start of the cat ear revolution and Nashville's bettering relationship with Cheshire was so well liked by you. Thanks for the complement about Briareus' Gambit's name. I have the knowledge on hand about the actual USS Nashville, so I'd be remiss to not include it, and only give her abilities hum-drum names. I have to say, you calling him, "Grandpa Roscoe," gave me a good laugh. A grandfather type character is what I was going for after all. Thanks for your understanding about the pace of my updates.
Hey there, Touhoufanatic. It's nice to see that the relationships between the characters are developing nicely in your view. I certainly look forward to getting into some of the ideas that I've had on back burner for character interactions in the future. Cheshire and Roscoe both have a purpose and I'd say that you're pretty well justified to be curious as to what will happen with them.
What's up, SomeRand0m? No problem about the imagination. Let me try to explain it a bit differently. The first style that Cheshire tied was in a style similar to what Heinrich has. Only in the shape of cat ears and not bunny ears. The second style that Nashville decided to go with is like Brooklyn. I guess I'll admit my lack of creativity at this point. But anyway, if you look at Brooklyn's art, you'll notice that she has a bow on the side of her head tied in her hair. Nashville's bow is tied into her hair behind her head. And Nashville's bow is larger so that the top corners are visible on top of her head to look like the sought for cat ear shape. You mention a tough thing right now. I'm looking for the right time for Cheshire to bring up the idea of a harem to Las Vegas. But sitting here typing, I probably won't have it happen until after Nashville has an idea that she loves her commander. Thanks for liking the chapter. I hope to keep making content that is worth liking in the future. Ah. Prinz Eugen. To be completely honest, I'm not sure what to do with her. Or if I'll really do much of anything with her. We'll see. Yes, it was an Operation Crossroads reference. Germany is next up after the UK. I'm looking forward to it. Yep, I'm an engineering major. Best of luck getting into the colleges that you applied for. Ah yes. "The dead friend equals more power" cliché. I personally prefer the "The louder I scream the more powerful I am" cliché. We'll see what shounen anime influences creep their way into the story. And to be fair, I'm pretty sure that the power of love is present in most of fiction. Thanks for saying that about the battles. I'm not halfway through the story. We're still much closer to the beginning than to the ending. But if I were to throw out an arbitrary place as to where we are, I'd say that with the completion of this arch we'd be a third of the way through. I don't seem to recall saying that I'd introduce more oc's. I mean, we'll have more side characters. Even significant ones, but they'll be human. Oh. I don't know. We'll see. But at the time of me typing this out, I don't have plans to introduce any more oc ship girls. This chapter came out chill because I couldn't find a way to divide the subject of the next chapter naturally into two chapters, what with all the things that happened in this one. But I think that you can take a guess as to what will happen. I hope to not disappoint with the next chapter.
Greetings, Zander22122. Once again you catch my reference. A part of me wonders how many readers don't catch them. Oh well. I'll never know. Thanks for acknowledging Duke of York's biblical reference. Of all ship girls, she's probably the only one poetic enough to do so, outside of the Iris Orthodoxy that is. As for Las Vegas's preferences in the actor for Sherlock Holmes, he'd probably start out liking Cumberbatch, but would shift as the subject matter in Las Vegas's own story turns into cult fighting, like RDJ's movie. I hope you had a nice Easter too. No problems with your phone posting twice.
Hi playerultima. You're welcome for 'reviewing your review.' I like to include those who leave reviews as a way to make the story seem more personal. I also enjoy engaging with those who have the same interests as myself. What can I say? I don't know anybody in person who plays and enjoys Azur Lane. So, I call the readers of this story, "friends." And I really do mean that. To be honest, I'd also pay red diamonds to see artwork of Nashville with her ribbon, but all of my artistic capabilities went into writing. I can't draw or paint to save my life. Oh well. I guess the best I can do is describe her as accurately as I can so that the picture in my head is shared with all who may read this story. I guess as you can see, I like Hood's character in game. Proud, yet reserved. And a proper lady, through and through. I think that she's pretty good in-game. She's definitely not meta, but I still like her. You do bring up a point though, I do seem to have been neglecting Las Vegas's codebreaking segments for a time. I'll make sure to include that going forward. I do intend for him to get more talented with breaking codes. So, it'll be nice to see him cracking more and more sophisticated Siren (and Herald) codes as the story goes on. Thanks for your kind words, and I'll try my hardest to keep up the work.
It's good to see you, SafetyDoggo. I'm happy that you liked the chapter. I guess that manual guidance would be a solution. Why has this not been implemented? I don't have an in-story answer and I probably won't have a situation to give an answer. But if an answer has to be given, (even if it's outside of the story) let's say that manually guided weapons capable of sinking ships have been slowly developed and even slower to be adopted because of government bureaucracy. I know that the explanation is lazy, but it's the best I can come up with. But wow, you sure do a good job of keeping me on my toes about details like this. Keep it up. I could use it. And where is Enterprise? Looking for her is part of the story. And while she isn't that high of a priority right now, I intend to have the search for Task Force 13 become much more vital later on. But your comment also brings up a point. It looks like you ship BelfastXEnterprise. That's cool and I respect that. But I was wondering, if ship girls really did exist, do you think that relationships between them would be common? I haven't decided on that. And likewise, I haven't decided if I'm going to include anything about that in the future. Whelp, who knows? But no matter the case, take care.
It's nice to meet you, arkyeanwarlord17. Thanks for leaving a review. I super glad that you find the story interesting. I was trying to go for something a little bit different than what I had seen before, and a clandestine hunt for sea monsters and the cult that worships them seemed like a unique idea to me, at least where Azur Lane fanfiction is concerned. Thanks for the kudos. I hope you stick around.
Well, it's really late again where I am. But I'm glad to finally be able to finish up this chapter. Now, having said all that I wanted to say, I'm going to bed. But first, I want to thank you. Yes, you. Thank you for reading, friend. And take care. 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.
