A Certain Lady Part 5
By Old Iron
Admiral Richardson sat on his sofa with his uniform shirt half unbuttoned and his cover haphazardly resting on an unread newspaper. Strewn out on the coffee table and the target of a hefty glare was the contents of a folder delivered to him by Jintsuu, who had apparently sampled some of Hiei's cooking and was beginning to look a little worse for wear. Not enough to stave off deployment at the moment however. Come hell or high water, he would make sure that Hiei knew how to cook without nearly killing someone. Even if he had pull her off active duty and ship her off to a culinary school to do so.
But that was neither here nor there at the moment.
"Are they serious. Are they fucking serious..." His mutterings were low and angry. He was glad Jane was sleeping over at a friend's house tonight. She saw and heard enough on base as it was. There was a little need for him to add to the pile if he could avoid it. Funny thing about being a parent, that.
With an angry motion, he grabbed the folder and read through the contents again to make absolutely certain he wasn't having some sort of sleep-deprived hallucination.
*** CONFIDENTIAL ***
FROM: UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE - PACIFIC FLEET COMMAND
TO: UNITED STATES FLEET ACTIVITIES SASEBO - RDML JOHN ALFRED RICHARDSON
*** THE CONTENTS OF THIS MESSAGE ARE RESTRICTED TO THE EYES OF THE ABOVE MENTIONED RECIPIENT ONLY ***
MESSAGE IS AS FOLLOWS:
IN REFERENCE TO RECENTLY ATTACHED SHIP SPIRIT TO YOUR COMMAND: LT USS ARIZONA BB-39.
OWING TO THE ARMAMENT OF THE ABOVE MENTIONED SHIP SPIRIT, YOU ARE HEREBY ORDERED TO RESTRICT DEPLOYMENT OF SAID SHIP SPIRIT.
USS ARIZONA IS NOT TO BE DEPLOYED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TO EVENTS WHEREIN ACTIVE COMBAT IS TO BE EXPECTED UNLESS NO RECOURSE IS OTHERWISE AVAILABLE.
*** CONFIDENTIAL ***
Nope, not a hallucination.
It was signed, stamped, and sealed, making it as official as any set of paper orders could ever be.
Richardson leafed through the other papers. A limited biography of Arizona, complete with her photo. She looked stoic as could be. Blueprints. Details on her armor and armaments. Minor historical notes. A few technical documents regarding his report on the summoning.
Still not a damn hallucination.
The only item he hadn't wanted thrown out in anger was a hand-written letter that he was almost absolutely certain wasn't supposed to have been sent with the rest of the tripe. Then again, it was sent from someone with enough weight to throw around that if they said the sun was made of ice cream then it damn well was and you should pray it was their favorite kind.
A Fleet Admiral kind of has that pull.
The letter had gone on to dispense with the official jargon and gotten right to the heart of the matter.
In all honesty, the brass had no idea what to do with Arizona.
It had been difficult enough deploying battleships when they were massive steel leviathans and command had a pretty good idea of what they could be used for. The advent of carrier based warfare only made it worse. Ship Spirits and the Abyssals had turned a great number of those notions on their head and made it all the worse. At least with their allies providing all the information they could and the arrival of USS New Jersey they had finally been making headway. The revival and updating of World War II naval doctrine had been progressing with leaps and bounds.
Unfortunately no amount of revival could help them plan for a USS Arizona who showed up wearing her commission kit. A Super-Dreadnought who was top of the line for 1916 was no better off against the Abyssal planes than a toothless cargo barge. It was simply too big of a risk and not a soul wanted to chance her deploying against an enemy carrier. It wouldn't be a battle. It would be a death warrant.
And adding to the stack against her was the fact she was probably one of, if not the, slowest battleships on the sea right now. An Abyssal with half a brain in its head would do everything it could to just run circles around Arizona and send her to the bottom with a death of a thousand cuts. Her armor was powerful, not invincible.
Richardson scowled, no more pleased about the explanation than the first time he read it over. At least someone had bothered to flat out tell him why. It was more than he could have ever expected and he was not about to complain about receiving it. No matter how angry he was.
"We were crying and begging for Navy girls to show up. And now that we know how to get them to show up, the brass is going to bitch and moan that they didn't get a ship with the right set of guns." He tossed the folder back onto the table and sunk back into the plush of his couch. He knew he wasn't being completely fair towards his superiors. Now that command actually had some troops and a means to add to their number, they could actually afford to actually think about who was assigned what. When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Now there were some wrenches and screwdrivers in the toolbox.
"...I wonder if they'd do the same thing to Oklahoma or Utah."
"Hmm... Utah might not mind."
To his credit, Richardson did not scream. He did however jump out of his skin and nearly had an intimate encounter involving the coffee table and his shins.
"Dammit Hiei!" He hissed while putting a hand on his chest to try and calm his now rapid heartbeat. With a glare shot behind him at the Japanese battleship, he collapsed back onto the sofa. "How did you get in here?" And how had she snuck up behind him? She wasn't exactly the most stealthy woman, or ship for that matter. Usually you could tell where she was from a mile away.
"The front door." Hiei smiled broadly. "You did give us all a set of keys you know. Just in case." She held up the aforementioned keys and gave them a slight jingle to accentuate her point. With an amazingly nimble vault, she hauled herself over the back of the sofa to land comfortably on the center cushion.
The fact she managed to pull this off without breaking the furniture amazed Richardson on a level he was fairly certain only existed owing to the late hour.
"She was turned into a target ship, right? I think she'd like to do some light escort duty. You know, help keep the younger girls sharp while stretching her legs a bit." The fast battleship swiveled in her seat so that her head lay squarely on Richardson's lap and her feet extended well over the opposite arm of the sofa. She blissfully ignored the fact he was looking at her like she'd grown another head. "I don't think Oklahoma would like it though. I bet Arizona won't either. She's old, but she's not useless. When are you going to tell her? We're setting out in an hour."
It was times like these that Richardson wondered just how mad he would go if he ever tried to figure out how exactly Hiei's mind worked. One moment she was an overly energetic goofball with a sister complex, the next she was insightful and serious. And that didn't even begin to cover the flip-flopping she did between being a lazy bum and being one of the most dedicated soldiers in his entire fleet. He really wished she would at least add some stability to the mix. If not for his sake, then the rest of her battle group.
"...It's that time already?" He looked at his wrist only to discover he had taken his watch off at some point. Just how out of it was he? As support for Mutsu and her two destroyers heading off to meet with the Everett supply convoy, he was sending Hiei, Jintsuu, and the freshly summoned Arizona directly to Yokosuka. They'd receive further instruction upon arrival, but their initial orders were to assist in securing the base for the convoy's arrival.
Yokosuka was a good sized base, but you could never be too careful. Especially considering its location and what was arriving. The fact Richardson's orders did not contradict the DOD's was a fortunate convenience in his book.
"I'm going to try to ignore the fact that you've apparently been reading confidential information over my shoulder for a while now. As for Arizona... She doesn't have to like it. I sure as Hell don't. She " He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't have time to give her the explanation she deserves, and I'd much rather tell her in person than over the radio." He placed one arm on the back of the sofa and the other on the armrest.
"At least you can still tell her on your own terms over the radio. Or the phone. Maybe she'll like that. Or she'll get super angry." Hiei chuckled before reaching up as if to grasp something. Richardson's eyes followed the motion until her arm was fully extended. "I don't know. All I can say is do your best with vim and vigor and high spirits!" She clenched her hand into a fist and smiled.
"Are we still talking about breaking shitty orders to Arizona?" Richardson's questioning tone sounded ever so slightly less terse than it usually did. He didn't feel nearly so strung out as before, that was for certain.
"Hmm... Maybe." Hiei extricated herself from the comfort of the sofa and Richardson's lap before turning about to face him. "However! Sir! As recompense for my checking in on you and raising your spirits, I would request two things."
He stood from the sofa to look Hiei in the eyes. It was a bit difficult owing to the fact she kept her brilliant slate blue peepers looking everywhere but directly at him. Now he knew she was playing around. Kind of. Maybe.
"I request a pat on the head as I cannot ask Kongou-oneesama at the moment and I would request your haste to the docks to bid us safe travels." She gave a salute, trying to look as official as she possibly could. The salute wasn't quite up to Mutsu's standards but it was still pretty good. Richardson returned it with as much energy as he could at the moment, but not before heaving a considerable sigh.
"Your requests are granted Lieutenant." He dropped his salute and gave the second ship of the Kongou-class fast battleships a good and proper pat on the head. She giggled proudly. "Let me get myself somewhat decent and I'll see you all off." It was hard to keep a sour demeanor around Hiei when she was actively trying to cheer you up and not going too far in doing so, which had a tendency to happen. And so help you if his daughter teamed up with her. He hadn't seen a foul mood last more than a minute on base when they worked together.
"Thank you sir!"