A Certain Lady Part 6
By Old Iron
The hour was not terribly early, but early enough that the sun had only briefly considered peeking over the horizon.
It had been less than a day since USS New Jersey and the rest of the Everett convoy had made it to Yokosuka Naval Base and things appeared to be settling down about as much as one could expect for an active naval base during wartime. Thankfully there had been enough of a lull to allow for those that needed rest to obtain it and for those who hungered to sate their massive appetites. Some places even seemed to have entered a state of calm.
"I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to. I thought I did it right this time!" A battleship with short brown hair and a very nontraditional priestess garb clasped her hands and bowed in earnest next to an occupied bed.
The barracks was not such a place.
"I-It's fine. Don't worry, Hiei." The occupant of the bed tried to put on a reassuring air, but the paleness to her already pale complexion and the weakness in her soft tone did not provide any support. Neither to its intended target nor the other battleship in the room. At least the latter was going a far better job of holding herself together. That is, if the the latter was even out of sorts in the slightest to begin with.
"But... I really did." Hiei's downcast expression looked wholly out of place on her. Regardless of her many moods, such a look appeared genuinely alien on her.
"Then would you assist me with these, Lieutenant?" Arizona's level tone cut into the mood much like the knife she was handling in one hand. She held up the apple in the other revealing jagged and uneven lines on the bared surface. There were even pieces of the peel still sticking to places. "If it is just peeling an apple, you should be fine."
"Ah, Arizona-sa-" Jintsuu held back a wince at the blunt words before she was cut off.
"Yes! This I can do without fail." If there had been an insult behind Arizona's words, Hiei either brushed it off or simply didn't care. She bustled over to where the American was sitting and handily disarmed her of the cutting implement. Arizona blinked in veiled surprise, not expecting the action in the slightest. "Lets see... Hm! Simple is best here."
As Hiei began manhandling one of the apples on the plate, Arizona made her way over to the other side of the bed where the other battleship had been bowing and fretting. She pulled up Hiei's unused chair and took a seat, pointedly ignoring the creak of metal and plastic as she did so. One day she would figure out why some things seemed to react as though she were trying to put the full weight of her hull on it and why others seemed to treat her with the same logic as an ordinary human being.
There was a pause wherein the only sound was Hiei's merry humming and the soft scraping of knife against apple flesh.
"A-Arizona-san?" It was Jintsuu who broke the silence with a curious, if not weak tone of voice. She set her hands upon her lap as she turned her amber gaze to meet the battleship's own. "May I ask you a question?"
Arizona nodded stoically, idly fingering the brass emblem on her combination cover as it rested in her lap. She pondered just what sort of question the light cruiser might offer up. Perhaps something regarding deployment or even a question about her armament? Jintsuu should not have been so ill while at sea for her to have completely forgotten the technical data she had provided to her two fellow shipgirls. Rather, she had hardly seemed ill at all until they reached port.
Perhaps it was a more personal question? One more relevant to how she saw the ships who had been part of a nation which had sunk her. Or even...
"Have you ever had anman?"
Or something absolutely out of the blue.
"I'm... sorry?" Arizona blinked as Hiei laughed. The American's gaze shot over to the laughing woman confusedly as if expecting some sort of explanation. Instead Hiei just continued snickering whilst peeling the apples with surprising skill. She locked eyes once more with Jintsuu and was surprised to see her looking quite serious despite her condition.
"It's a steamed bun with sweet bean past for filling. Really sweet and really really tasty." Hiei cut in when it looked like Jintsuu was more focused on Arizona's answer than her apparent ignorance of the treat. "Jintsuu loves them. Especially with tea. Green tea though. Very important." She'd tried them with her sister's good and proper English black tea before. It was not nearly so tasty a combination as she would have hoped.
"Anman. H-Have you had it yet?" Jintsuu seemed determined to have some sort of answer out of the battleship.
"I have never heard of it before now." She'd only been in this form for less than a week. And quite a few days of that were spent at sea. There was little to no time for sweets and frivolity. The highly unexpected party following her summoning notwithstanding.
"That is... unfortunate." Jintsuu seemed ever so mildly disheartened by the admission, but she shook her head and locked eyes with the battleship. "When we have a chance. I-I would like to introduce you t-to a good place. We can a-all go."
"I bet we can even drag the admiral and Jane along for the ride as well. Well, if we're back home. We'll just have to make then jealous if they can't." Hiei set the knife down on the table and picked up a thin slice of apple with a toothpick. "Here you go."
Jintsuu blinked as the sliver of fruit appeared in front of her. Not too large, but not too small. It was expertly cut and sized to a point where it wouldn't be too hard on her stomach. She turned her gaze to Hiei and saw only the honest and concerned smile of the short haired brunette. It baffled her how someone with such apparent skill could at the same time produce such lethal results. At lest there was no actual cooking involved in the preparation of an apple.
She carefully took a bite and chewed it thoughtfully. It was cool and tasty and felt good as it slid down her abused throat.
"Good?" Hiei smiled cheekily before popping a slice of apple into her own mouth. She offered up a slice to Arizona as well, who accepted it with a nod of thanks. She'd not let Jintsuu have too many though. Just in case.
"Mmm. It is. May I ha-" Jintsuu felt a wave of nausea bubble up and she cut herself off to bring a hand to her mouth, looking far more green around the gills now than a second ago. Her eyes widened in panic as she felt her stomach rebel against her.
"Yeoman!?" Arizona's shout preceded the painful sound of Jintsuu emptying the contents of her stomach. The combo cover in her hands fell to the ground as she stood abruptly.
Fortunately for all involved, Hiei wasn't classified as a fast battleship for nothing. The woman had managed to grab a bucket set aside for exactly this reason and place it in front of the sick girl before a mess could be made.
"Whew... That was close." Hiei relinquished her hold on the bucket as Jintsuu grasped it in a death-grip. She winced as her friend continued to fill it with each shuddering heave that wracked her lithe body. The sight made her feel even worse given how she knew that she was the reason behind Jintsuu's current state of being. "I... guess you're still not good for solid food."
Both battleships pulled in close to flank the cruiser and offered what help they could. Arizona held Jintsuu's long hair back while Hiei rubbed her back and helped to steady the bucket. If there was any solace to be had it was that a cruiser's fuel capacity was far less than a battleship. Especially a light cruiser who had already been running low to begin with.
"...ank you..." Jintsuu's mumbled gratitude sounded all the more pathetic after she managed to get her stomach under control.
Hiei wordlessly grabbed a tissue from nearby and wiped Jintsuu's face free of tears and then any debris around her mouth. She helped her lay back down onto the bed and pulled the sheets up to the cruiser's chin so she would be more comfortable and plenty warm. The only sounds coming from Jintsuu were moans and pitiful groans.
"I'll take care of this." Arizona carefully removed the bucket of fuel oil and myriad unpleasant things from Jintsuu's grasp before making certain a spare was well within reach. One could not be too careful and it would undoubtedly prolong Jintsuu's recovery if she got sick all over herself. Food poisoning was bad enough. No need to make it last any longer than necessary.
As Arizona opened the door to take care of the bucket's contents, she very nearly crashed into Mutsu who looked as though she had just been about to knock on the door.
"My my, Ari! That was a close one." Mutsu stifled a giggle as the redhead saluted smartly with her free hand. She glanced past Arizona to see Hiei tending to Jintsuu and then towards the nearly full bucket. Her tone shifted from playful to soft and concerned. "Not feeling any better it seems..."
"No, ma'am." Arizona dropped her salute, her ponytail not even twitching with the crisp motion. She might have asked about the shortening of her name, but there was a tension in her superior that did not permit her to do so. There plenty of other issues to address that were of far greater importance regardless.
"Hmm... That's not good. Jo-Admiral Richardson says he's overdue for debriefing us and needs to issue new orders as well." Mutsu held up a hardy looking tablet as she spoke. "Jintsuu, would you like to sit this out? I can go over everything when you're feeling a little better." It would be easy enough to make time for and Jintsuu might not even remember half of what would be said in her current state anyways.
"No..." Her soft croaking voice tried to sound stronger than it actually was, but she still wanted to give a proper answer. "I will... at least be present."
"Are you sure? You really should get some sleep." This time it was Hiei who piped up, not sounding entirely enthused with the cruiser's decision. Her response was a stern nod.
"Hmhm. Our Jintsuu's a tough girl, isn't she? Ari, we'll get started once you've taken care of that." Mutsu gestured to the still present bucket of unpleasantness with an expression that clearly stated her desire for it to be removed with considerable haste. Arizona didn't need to be told a second time as she booked it from the room with as much haste and dignity one could manage when carrying such a thing.
"Video conference?" Queried Hiei as Mutsu entered the room and took Arizona's now vacant seat. The American hadn't called... what was it? Seatback? after all. "Or did he just send you a copy?"
Mutsu shook her head.
"Video conference. I think he's a bit worried about us. This is Arizona's first deployment after all. And we didn't really have a lot of time to sit down and really get to know each other." She pouted as she set about logging into Skype. The tablet was set up on a portable stand so it was far easier for everyone to see. "Well, I certainly didn't. And neither did Teruzuki or Akizuki. You and Jintsuu had her all to yourselves."
"Hrm... Arizona is..." Hiei crossed her arms as she looked for the right words. Her foot bumped against something under the bed and she reached down to see what it was. It turned out to be Arizona's cover, having rolled under the bed during Jintsuu's latest episode. She retrieved it and dusted it off. The pause lengthened as she looked at the brass emblem. Maybe it was just her imagination, but it seemed heavier than it ought to.
Hiei didn't get a chance to finish her comment as Mutsu's connection finally went through with a resounding beep and Arizona returned with a now empty bucket.
The redhead made no comment about having her seat stolen and instead simply grabbed another. She gave a nod of thanks as Hiei handed her cover over.
"Check. Check. Can you hear me?" Came the unmistakable voice of their admiral.
"Loud and clear, sir." Chimed in Mutsu. "Give me a moment and we'll be able to see you too. Lets see... There!" The screen lit up and Richardson's tired looking visage was put on full display. He looked a little haggard and appeared as though he hadn't shaved at all. Combined with what could be seen of his uniform, the girls accurately guessed he might have slept in it.
"Hahaha! You look terrible, sir!" Hiei's rather vocal appraisal of his disheveled appearance earned a mirthful laugh from Mutsu, a soft giggle from Jintsuu, and an appalled look from Arizona. "You slept in your uniform again, didn't you. Didn't we tell you to stop that?" Were it not for the tears of laughter streaming down the fast battleship's face, one might have taken her words as a serious criticism.
"My my my. Oh my, what ever will we do with you? We go out for a few days and already you're falling to pieces. Poor Jane must be devastated to see her father in such a state. Do you need me to tie a few ties and have them shipped back home to you~?" The mischievous grin on Mutsu's face promised more and more humor laden scathing. And she had more ammunition on hand than most countries.
"First off, no. Secondly, I will make you regret all this someday. Thirdly," He stopped to point next to the now chuckling Hiei, "Arizona looks like she's about to have a coronary."
Sure enough, the only American warship present looked like she was about to break her ever present stoic calm and fall into an apoplectic fit. The muscles of her neck were taut and her jaw seemed hard enough to crush stone. Such a blatant disregard for authority and disrespect towards one's superior officers offended her on such a base level that actually finding words to loose her indignant rage with would be a feat in and of itself.
"A-Arizona-san..." Jintsuu's soft voice drew the furious battleship's gaze towards her and she very nearly flinched at its intensity. "It's okay. They're like that."
"Stand down, Lieutenant. It's fine." Richardson's voice cut through Arizona's fury like a hot knife through butter.
"But, Admiral."
"Ari, Hiei and I have known Admiral Richardson for a long time now." Mutsu's smooth voice carried a certain edge to it. The kind that let one know that there was far more meaning to what was said than just the words alone. "I assure you, we mean no disrespect towards him or his station."
If Arizona had any further complaints, they were snuffed out when Richardson spoke again. "I let them get away with a lot of banter that might get a court-martial from most other commanders. But that's only because I trust them implicitly. Jintsuu too, but she's not nearly so vicious as these two are." He set a stony look upon the redhead, ignoring Jintsuu's faint blush. "Not every fleet is like mine. Some are far more hardline. Some are as lackadaisical as a drugged out hippie. Don't ask me how I know that."
"It's actually really funny." Hiei's stage whisper to Arizona earned her a resigned sigh from Richardson and a confounded glare from Arizona.
"Look, how about we get on with this? I have somewhere to be in about... three hours and it'll take at least two to get there." Richardson groused out as he made a show of looking at a nonexistent watch.
"I... Yes, sir." Arizona appeared stumped as to how she could respond to her admiral's statement, so she simply opted to agree to move on.
"Good. Anyone have any objections? No? Even better." Richardson remained silent for a moment, collecting himself and trying to calm whatever nerves he still had left. "Lieutenant Commander Mutsu, anything new to report since your last communication on the status of the Everett convoy?"
"None sir. New Jersey and White Plains are still recovering, but the Taffies are already running around base like they own the place." And one in particular was proving to be particularly rambunctious.
"Hmm... It sounds like White Plains may have hurt herself more than I thought. Arizona? Hiei? Anything to report?" There was the faint sound of scratching as he made a few notes on an unseen notepad.
"Nothing sir." Both battleships chorused their replies in unison. Only Hiei seemed to be fighting the twitch of laughter at the accident. Arizona simply remained stone-faced and professional.
There was a pause as Richardson turned his gaze to the last member of his fleet present.
"...Jintsuu?"
"N-Nothing to r-report sir." She seemed to shrink slightly under her admiral's eyes.
"I already knew that. Christ... What did you do to yourself? If you were feeling this bad, you should have told me and I would have had you shipped off to bed instead of halfway across Japan. And no, you may not blame Hiei's culinary catastrophes on this. You looked a little under the weather when you left port, but not even in the same zip code as this. Did you eat a can of expired motor oil or something?" The look in Richardson's eyes was not unlike an exasperated father trying to figure out why his child had just done something colossally stupid.
Jintsuu simply whimpered.
"My my, Admiral..." There was a sliver of warning in Mutsu's voice. "I know you're worried about her, but you could choose your words a bit better." Even Arizona had sense enough to nod in agreement.
"Fine, sorry. Jintsuu, I'll be talking with you later about this." He drew a deep breath and refocused his attention to everyone present. "Now for your new orders. They're simple as pie, so listen up. Mutsu, you and your destroyers are to remain stationed at Yokosuka until relieved by Admiral Goto. You will provide any and all support needed here up to and including combat operations, under which you will defer to Admiral Goto."
"Understood. I will do my best." Mutsu offered Richardson one of her most crisp salutes in response.
"I know you will. You always have. Hiei. Arizona. You two will return to Sasebo posthaste to run operations down here. Jintsuu, you will be joining them if you are deemed fit to travel. If you are not, then you will remain at Yokosuka until you are as such." Richardson allowed himself a moment to collect his wits for what was coming. "Any questions?"
Silence reigned.
"Good. Now. I've had time to think about this, and there is no way to say it nicely." Hiei offered Richardson a discreet nod. She knew what was coming and had remained silent on the matter. The fact she had been blatantly reading classified documents over her commander's shoulder aside, there were simply things one did not do. "Lieutenant Arizona."
"Sir." Arizona straightened even further in her seat. There was a niggling of dread in her heart. The words Richardson had used did not promote any sort of positive feeling.
"Per Pacific Fleet Command, you are hereby ordered onto light duty and will not be deployed to any region or on any mission where active combat is to be expected unless no recourse is otherwise available."
You could hear a pin drop in the dead silence that followed.
Hiei bit her lip in frustration. Knowing what was coming did not make actually hearing the delivery of command any easier. If anything, it made it worse.
Jintsuu looked flabbergasted, as if she could not believe the words that had just come out of his mouth. Even the soreness of sickness decided to take a back seat to the harsh things just spoken.
Mutsu gaped in open shock. "John, are yo-" She stopped when he held up a hand, his gaze never once leaving Arizona.
Arizona remained silent. Her eyes were hard and flinty and her posture remained as steady as it had been moments before. However the tension that once seemed to permeate her existence had been all but washed away. In its place was a deep and hurtful betrayal. Some part of her expected a punishment to come sooner than later. A fitting penance for her utter failure. Yet it did not seem to register that this could be it.
"If you will allow me to explain?" There was a mechanical nod from the redhead. "You can thank the almighty for this bit of information. Otherwise I'd be storming down to headquarters myself demanding answers. The long and short of it is this: the ones handing out these shitty orders have no idea how to make use of you. You're a Super-Dreadnought. One of the last of your kind. And the only one of your kind in the United States Navy at the moment."
"They think I am useless to the war effort?" If there was a hint of sorrow in her voice, no one present caught it. And no one else dared move or speak further until Richardson finished.
"Most of them are so used to sea power and air power going so hand in hand that they can't comprehend a warship without enough anti-air to blot out the sun. And others don't even know what kind of doctrine would be remotely useful with your armament. Your armament built for almost one hundred years ago. It doesn't help that you are the slowest active battleship in the world right now. If your guns were closer to what they were near the end, we might not be having this discussion.
It isn't pretty and it really sucks, but a lot of the brass have no faith in your abilities and none of them want to send you out to a fight as a sacrificial lamb. No one wants to be the one that has the blood of Arizona on their hands. I'm sorry, but that's what Fleet thinks." He sighed angrily and kept his eyes on the American warship, waiting for a response.
"What..." There was a tightness in her voice that she did not think needed to be there. Her furiously cold eyes bored into her admiral's with all the force of her main batteries. "What do you think?"
"Me? You want to know what this lowly Rear Admiral thinks? I'll tell you what I fucking think." He snarled angrily. "I think I'm going to abuse the most blatantly obvious loophole in this pile of shit like it was going out of style. No deployment where active combat is expected? I'm sorry, I wasn't aware we could track and plan offenses whenever we wanted. Because apparently the Abyssal Fleet posted their schedule on the internet."
Hiei managed a snort of laughter at Richardson's blatant display of showmanship. She placed a hand on the once more befuddled Arizona's shoulder and gave her a thumbs up when she turned to face her.
"I'm going to be putting you on escort runs where if something decides its stupid enough to poke its head out, then it deserves to get a faceful of fourteen inch shells. You have strengths. I am going to use those strengths. Hiei!" He barked at the only fast battleship present. "I remember you being pretty damn slow. And your AA wasn't much better. What did I do when I absolutely had to put you into the line of fire?"
"Sir! You covered me in so many escorts that I could barely move! You did the same for Lieutenant Commander Mutsu!" The early days were... hectic at best. And Hiei recalled Richardson having pulled in a lot of favors to get those escorts. Some of those favors were still up in the air, waiting to be called in.
"But sir... You don't-" Arizona found herself cut off buy Jintsuu of all people. She hadn't known the girl long, but cutting someone off mid sentence seemed quite brash for the shy girl.
"Even if he cannot cover you in escorts and even if orders prevent him from openly deploying you, the Admiral will not let you languish. He did not allow us to and he will not begin now." There was an intensity in her amber eyes that gave all present pause. Even in sickness, she would not allow her voice to go unheard in this moment.
"Will you be alright, Lieutenant Arizona?" Richardson finally asked.
"I-I yes sir! Thank you, sir!" The betrayal and anger still swelled within her soul. But at least she knew that there were some who had not given up on her. They would not allow her to rot until her duty had been completed. She gave another salute, albeit slightly quavering. Arizona ignored this.
"You're terrible, you know that?" Mutsu's tone was rather displeased, but the small smile she wore shaved away some of its edge.
"I am fully aware of how wretched I am, yes. Now if there is nothing else, there's a transport headed for Yokosuka that I need to be on." Had the room not been so emotionally charged earlier, there might have been a considerable uproar at his statement.
"You're coming here? I didn't know anything about this. Has something happened?" The Nagato-class battleship looked both cross and curious at the same time.
"Someone likes to throw command meetings and demand us be there in person 'for security' he so claims. I might also owe someone a favor or two and she's calling it in whether she knows it or not. And Jane says that if I don't, she's going to hate me and try to date the most horrible people possible when she's older just to spite me." He began shuffling around, occasionally going off screen and popping back in looking slightly less disheveled with each pass.
"Oh my... Is she even old enough to understand that kind of threat?" Mutsu raised an eyebrow in slight disbelief.
"Not chancing it." Richardson reached over to what was likely the power button on his side of the conference. "Mutsu. Take care of everyone. I'll drop by and say hello if you're not too busy. Hiei. Arizona. Watch each other's backs. It's dangerous out there and I'm putting my faith in you to come home safe. Jintsuu. You get some rest. I'll be seeing you in a few hours."
"Eh?" It would seem that Jintsuu was not expecting to become the focus of the conversation.
"One of my girls is sick. You think I'm not going to try to find a way to haul ass and take care of her?"
The line went dead and all three battleships turned to face the ill cruiser.
"My my my my~"