Chapter 3: The Carriers
Night had fallen, and the office was lit by florescent light. Ellen finally managed to finish most of the paperwork. After she had put down her pen, Penn turned to her. "Do you have a better idea of who you want to be your secretary ship? Of course, with such a small base, she'll only be available between sorties."
"Yeah, I've narrowed it down yourself, Princeton, Houston, and the Fletcher class destroyer Bache."
Penn lifted an eyebrow. "One of those is not like the others."
"The first three are who I most want to be my secretary ship, but I also figure I should also consider limiting my selection to a destroyer, so that it will be easier to keep her here."
"That is a good point. Many of your colleagues choose to make a destroyer, or at larger bases, a cruiser their secretary ship, to reduce the impact on sorties."
"It's going to be a bit of a tough decision. I'll have to sleep on it. Can you send records of previous sortie compositions and frequency to my room?"
"Sure, Admiral. I'm sure it will make excellent bedroom reading materiel."
Ellen groaned. Pennsylvania's sarcasm reminded her of her siblings.
XXX
The next day, Ellen intended to take Princeton up on the offer of a tour around the dormitories. Since the Admiral's room was also in the dormitory, she did not have to go far to look for the light carrier. The building seemed much too big for the small task force stationed on the island. There were only 16 shipgirls on the base, and almost all of the human staff lived in the town. Only about 24 people actually lived on the base, including the Admiral. Yet the dormitory had 36 rooms, most of which had two beds. Ellen thought that maybe it was so large so that the expeditionary force that Penn talked about could sleep there, or perhaps the navy was simply 'future-proofing' the base for a larger force. Either way, the shipgirls who lived there were happy with the situation, since they could all sleep in private rooms.
She encountered the Clemson sisters first. The girls slept next door to each other, and seemed to be around each other everywhere they went. Even though they were super adorable, Ellen knew that they were a clique and that she should find a way to get them to interact with the heavier ships more.
Kane was playing around with her sisters. "…and it was such a cool game!"
"You only like those old games because the villain has the same name as you." Gilmer seemed to have some grouchy tendencies, but with a name like that, it's easy to understand why.
"They're classics! You can't beak 'em! And the villain is great! He's charismatic and smart and-"
The little Fox tugged on Kane's sleeve. She spoke with such a soft and timid voice. "The admiral is here." She pointed at Ellen.
"Oh, I don't want to bother you girls much, but do you know where Princeton is?"
Kane pointed further down the hall. "Room 35".
"Thank you girls." Ellen walked past the arguing destroyers. When she arrived at the door, she knocked.
Princeton's voice called, "Come in."
Ellen opened the door and walked in. The two light carriers were sitting on Princeton's bed. Belleau Wood spoke first. "Are you here to ask me to show you my moves?" She flexed her muscles. They were barely larger than Ellen's, and tiny compared to Penn's.
"Sister, I offered to give her a tour of our dormitory after my interview."
Belleau rolled her eyes. "Well, then I'll go out and practice my moves in the inlet." She turned to Ellen. "If you want to see what I've got, just come out to the docks." Her confidence cheered up Ellen.
"Maybe later, but I look forward to it." Ellen winked at Belleau. It was apparently the right thing to say, as the light carrier's face began to practically glow with confidence.
After Belleau left the room, Princeton stood up and shook Ellen's hand. "Welcome to our humble dorm, Admiral."
"It's a nice little place. Very spacious."
Princeton laughed. "Yes, we're very happy with it. It may not be as furnished as what they have in California, but Unalaska has its own advantages."
XXX
Ellen followed the light carrier around the dorm. "We have 36 rooms, 20 on the first floor and 16 on the upper floor, four bathrooms and eight showers. We have two lounges, one on the upper and one on the lower floor, which include a small kitchen. In the basement we also have a large supply room with toiletries, maintenance supplies, and a large supply of perishable and non-perishable food." The carrier showed her all around the building, from the upper floor to the basement.
When Princeton finished showing Ellen the basement, the Admiral asked about the Bunker. "I hear that there's a concrete bunker under the dormitory. Can I see it?"
"Sure. It's important that you know where it is, in case of a bombardment on the base." She opened up a door in the basement leading to stairs leading further down. After a few steps, they turned a corner and saw the roof change materiel. They saw a heavy iron door. Princeton pulled a lever on the right side of the door, and pulled it open. She reached around the door and flicked a switch on the wall, next to the door. Lights came on and lit a medium size, concrete bunker. Large concrete supports stood in a square near the middle of the room. The walls were covered by shelves filled with supplies. There was another iron door further back. "On the other side of the far door is more supplies and room, along with a generator for the lights and a ventilation system."
"Nice. It looks like it could fit everyone, too."
"Yeah. Right now we use it for a bit of storage, and we like to have Halloween parties down here. If you put dim lights around, and decorate it well, it can look really spooky!"
Halloween party. Ellen never really thought much about if shipgirls celebrated holidays.
XX
After Princeton's tour ended, Ellen felt like heading to the dock to look around and maybe watch some ships training. Eventually, she would have to see how her subordinates fight, and how to use them effectively. She knew at least Belleau would be training there. The carrier was talking a lot of smack, and it was time to see how she stood up.
As she approached the dock, she saw the carrier dashing about and firing planes off of her flight deck. For a few minutes she decided to hide around the corner of the factory, and see how the carrier performed without knowing she was being observed.
Ellen had, of course, seen shipgirls training. There were courses at Westpoint all about working with shipgirls while they train. She had also seen the videos that the government periodically releases of naval victories in the Pacific and Atlantic fronts. The navy especially liked to release video of Enterprise destroying Abyssals, and was trying to use her as a hero symbol for recruitment and resource conservation purposes. Still, there was something vaguely different about watching this little carrier train without having the pressure of being observed. Her movements and her aiming were both relaxed and calm. After a couple of minutes, she came out from behind the factory. She decided to time it while the carrier was aiming just for fun. "Hey, Belleau." The carrier jumped. Ellen felt a moment of satisfaction at surprising a shipgirl.
Belleau's reply was still bubbling with confidence anyway. "Hey, Admiral! You ready to see some real stuff?"
Ellen decided to see if she could spice up the scene. "Impress me and I'll treat you to your favorite restaurant."
It worked. The carrier's smile was as bright as the sun. "Hope you have enough for a big Alaskan crab dinner!"
"Just don't hurt yourself, else you'll be the one paying. Deal?" Ellen didn't want her playful bet to get the ship hurt.
"Deal."
While Belleau proceeded to show off her skills, footsteps came up from behind Ellen. Houston appeared on her right. "Having some fun with Belleau, I see? She really enjoys showing off."
"It looks like I'm going to be paying for a crab dinner tonight." Ellen smiled at Houston.
"I see you've been watching her from behind the factory. Judging us?"
Ellen's face immediately went red. "I-I was just curious…"
"Well, as a new Admiral, judging our performance is the right thing to do. Just don't go peeking into the showers." Houston laughed, and Ellen nervously laughed too. The cruiser poked her in the shoulder. "I'm just kidding."
After a moment of watching Belleau, Houston spoke up again. "Since it looks like you're already going to be busy for dinner tonight, perhaps I can invite you to dinner in your office tomorrow? You're not the only one judging others."
As Houston walked away, Ellen's face remained a deep red. Belleau called out: "Looks like you're embarrassed by my AWESOMENESS, as you should be! I'm eating good tonight!"
Real life is always different from what they prepare you for in school, eh?