Original A/N: "Hello.
Here's entry#2, filled with even more references and jokes 99% of you won't get."

Flames... All-consuming flames… Screaming, flaming bodies trying to escape the inferno. Air being sucked out of the lungs, the deafening explosion replaced the silence of space. The scorching heat replaced briefly by the nothingness. The sensation of bubbles forming just under the skin. Blood, boiling at the touch of space.

Hongxi sat up, his gown drenched in cold sweat. An unfamiliar sensation in his hands, he looked down to see several blue lines spiraling down his strange and new hands. He held them up and twisted them around, observing the marvels of modern medical technology.

Lowering them, Hongxi looked around to observe his surroundings. He laid on a bed in a dimly lit private medical room. Although only his immediate bedside was lit, he could barely make out the nano tank that he must have come out of. Between him and the tank was an Advanced Surgical Table, typically reserved for medical cases that required manual neural and skeletal repositioning surgery.

The sound of footsteps was immediately followed by the lights activating. Hongxi shielded his eyes from the sudden brightness, blinking a couple times until his irides readjusted.

Sado: "Captain, you're awake."

Hongxi made a face and nodded.

Hongxi: "Sado-sensei…"

Sado: "How do you feel? Can you move your legs?"

Hongxi looked towards where his feet were supposed to be and wriggled his toes under the covers. Sado nodded and took out a flashlight, shining it into Hongxi's eye.

Sado: "No head trauma. No swelling in the optic nerves. No inflammation or corneal abrasions…"

Hongxi quickly brushed Sado's hand away, but she retaliated by grabbing his face and turning it to side to side to check his ears.

Hongxi: "Please… I'm fine."

Sado: "Hm, everything looks okay to me. You were caught in the initial blast, held both your hands up and the blast blew both of them clean off. Though, that's probably what saved you from losing your head. Open your mouth."

Hongxi: "Ahhh. Haw… Haw baa wa ii?"

Sado: "3 dead from the blast, 1 was critically wounded but making a steady recovery. 3 were ejected into space when the windows shattered."

Sado closed his jaws after finishing inspection to Hongxi's relief. Smacking his lips, Hongxi realized his mouth was a bit dry after the long slumber. He began fumbling around for the water bag they usually gave patients.

Sado: "Here, let me get that for you."

Hongxi: "Ah, thank you."

Hongxi sat still, silently taking in what transpired as he sipped on the little plastic bag. He opened his mouth to ask about the whereabouts Hongwu but closed it when he suddenly recalled the doctor's face while he was being carried away.

Hongxi: "…How's the ship?"

Sado: "She's taken severe damage to the bridge is about all I can say. Ask your chief officer for more details. You look good enough and your test results are fine, I'm releasing you from the medical bay. Welcome back captain."

Battleship Zheng Yuan, Second Bridge

The doors parted as Hongxi stepped onto the second bridge, a command room deep inside the bowls of the ship. It was similar in structure to the first bridge, except for where the windows were are now large monitors displaying a live feed of the exterior.

Hongxi: "Attention!"

The deck crew stopped their activities and snapped to attention, turning to salute the captain. Hongxi walked over to the officer of the deck, a young female officer by the name of Yayoi whom he was pretty sure wasn't part of the original deck crew. Along with most of the deck crew actually…

Hongxi: "I have the deck, ma'am."

Yayoi: "I am ready to be relieved. The first bridge has been deemed too heavily damaged by engineering to remain operational. Monitors 14 to 19, 28, 31, 36 and 41 through 46 were damaged by enemy fire, restricting our visuals by 30%. Sublight engines are running at 65% output. Flak guns are combat capable, however targeting arrays are still damaged. That is all."

Hongxi: "Hm, you are relieved."

Yayoi let out a sigh of relief and clasped her hands behind her back. She looked at the captain expectantly, slightly bobbing up and down on the heel of her foot.

Hongxi: "Yeees..?"

Yayoi: "Ahem. I am your new adjutant, captain."

Hongxi stared at her, noting how she was barely containing her excitement. A bundle of energy that was contained only by strict military training. Slightly phased, he looked around for his new second officer.

Hongxi: "Right… Lieutenant? Yi Sun…."

Sun-Sin: "Yi Sun-Sin sir."

Hongxi: "Sun-Sin, how long until we are at optimal combat capable?"

Yayoi: "G-gaaaah…. Totally ignored."

Sun-Sin: "It would take 9 days at a repair dock to make her combat capable captain, full repairs would take a month."

Hongxi: "A month huh… Do we have anymore Machiavelli-class battleships in reserve?"

Sun-Sin: "The Zheng Yuan is one of few Machiavelli-class ships delegated to Tianchao by the Alliance. Requests for a new one will probably take longer than the repairs will at this rate."

Hongxi: "Thus, we can either wait for repairs, put in a request and wait for a new ship, or fly in something else…"

Sun-Sin: "Yes… Captain? Something else?"

Sun-Sin frowned, wondering what craft Hongxi could possibly be talking about. Under the Alliance treatise, all planetary defense crafts had to be under a certain tonnage. It was also much more expensive to build and maintain a "personal" Tianchao fleet, meaning Tianchao had not developed and constructed anymore large vessels after entering the Alliance.

Hongxi: "Set course for Tianchao."

Yayoi stepped into Hongxi's view, demanding attention.

Yayoi: "You mean Wa sir?"

Hongxi: "No, I obviously meant Han. Sun-sin, send word ahead back home. Tell them to bring Great Harmony out of mothball and prepare the ship for combat."

Sun-Sin: "Sir, you don't mean to..."

Hongxi: "Yes, we are reactivating that old relic. Flagship of the continental Imperial Wa Empire at the height of the War of the Three Empires, the IWS Battleship Yamato."