Joint Base Harbor-Hickam, June, 3, 2018
"So you're Enterprise? Well, how about that," mused Admiral Davies as Captain Smith led Enterprise into his office.
"Yes, sir," she replied, simply.
"You wanted to see us, sir?" Smith asked as he lowered himself into a chair.
"Yes, frankly, when you told me that our mystery girl was the Enterprise, I just had to see her for myself," Davies explained. "Have you given any thought as to how we're going to deal with further Fleet Auxiliary Personnel?"
"Fleet Auxiliary Personnel?" Smith asked, questioningly.
"Do you know how stupid it sounds to write a report to CINCPAC about 'ship girls'?" Davies asked, "So I came up with a more, military term."
"Fine, sir, and the way I see it, we have two options. One, we commission all the 'Fleet Auxiliary Personnel' that we get as officers in a rank fitting their past service. Or two, we give each girl an equal enlisted grade and allow them to advance up the ranks, though merit and achievement, like any other sailor," Smith replied.
Davies was silent for several seconds before saying, "I think for now it would be best to start all future fleet auxiliary personnel out in enlisted grades. Then, once we have more experience with this whole thing, we can start thinking about commissions."
"I think that would be for the best, sir," Smith replied, he had a thought and continued, "We might think about putting a system of direct commissioning in place. Take the girls who demonstrate the potential to become officers, and give them a direct commission. I could even set up a simplified version of OCS to teach the more mundane side of being an officer."
Davies pondered this for a moment, before replying, "Alright captain, I think that would work. I would need to talk to CINCPAC though to get you operational authority to make battlefield commissions. On that note, what are you going to do with Enterprise here?"
"Sir, I request that Enterprise be given a commission as, at least, a lieutenant jay-gee, and then assigned to my command to serve as my XO," Smith replied. A look of shock and confusion washed over Enterprise's face at the suggestion.
"Sir, I'm not qualified to be an officer. I've only been here for a day," she protested.
Davies held up a hand, silencing the rest of her protest, then asked, "Can you please explain the reason for that suggestion captain?"
"Sir, I believe that for this unit I'm going to need someone to serve as a direct liaison between myself, and the ship girls. Someone who can relate with them on a personal level, what better choice than Enterprise," Smith explained.
Davies sat in silence for several seconds, then reached over and pressed the intercom button on his desk, "Major, could you please see if you have any commissioning papers out there, and if you do, please bring on in." Davies released the button and leaned back in his chair, then said, "Here's what we're going to do captain. I will have the major prepare the paperwork necessary to commission Enterprise here as a full lieutenant. Then I will go down to 3rd Fleet HQ in order to have them approved. While I'm doing this, you will take Enterprise down to the NEX and get her some officer type uniforms and anything else she needs, I'll give you a department credit card to pay for all of it. Hopefully I can get the bureaucratic BS done with by the end of the day, and we can have her sworn in then."
"Aye aye, sir," Smith replied. Just as Davies was about to say something else, Harte burst into the room, a worried look on his face.
"What is it major?" Davies asked, a look of concern appearing on his face.
"Sir, you're going to want to look at this," he handed a piece of paper to Davies. "It just came over the 3rd Fleet over the FLASH line." A chill ran down Smith's spine at this announcement.
If it's a FLASH message, it's probably about something pretty bad.
Daviesquickly read the message, then said in a low voice, "Major, go talk to Colonel Reid over at Hickam, see if they have anything going west we can hijack to take a couple of officers out to Midway." The major nodded, then ran out. Davies turned back to Smith and explained, "According to this, the Carl Vinson got hit an hour ago."
"What's the extent of the damage?" Smith asked, his tone serious.
"We lost the carrier," Davies replied flatly.
"Shit," Smith swore softly and leaned back in his seat.
"Excuse me," Enterprise said, getting everyone's attention. "Who attacked the carrier?"
Davies looked shocked for a second, then asked, "You haven't told her?"
"I was waiting for the transition shock to wear off a bit more before I dropped that bombshell, but it looks like the Abyssals have beat us to it," Smith replied. Davies leaned over and tapped several keys on his computer. A few seconds later a projector whirred to life and threw a picture up on the wall. Davies stood up and walked over to it. As the picture came into focus, Smith could see that it was of one of the destroyer type Abyssals
"This," Davies announced, "Is an Abyssal. They are a highly aggressive life form that has been waging open warfare with the entire world. They attack any ship on the open ocean, hundreds have been lost to their attacks."
"What does this have to do with me?" Enterprise asked. Davies reached over and pressed another key on his computer, changing the picture. This time a picture of a group of ship girls sailing across the ocean came up
"As a ship girl," Davies began, "You possess the same strengths and abilities now, as you did back when you were the USS Enterprise. You have the capability to take the fight directly to the Abyssals. I would explain further, but I don't really know a lot of details myself. We're all new at things of this nature. Right now all you need to know is that we're putting together a group of ship girls, under Captain Smith's command."
"So there are others," Enterprise asked, "Like me?"
"Not in the US Navy right now, but we're working on that," Smith replied.
Harte poked his head back into the room and announced, "I got a hold of Colonel Reid. He says that they have a C-5 leaving for Japan at 2100. They would be more than happy to make a stop at Midway to drop our people off, in exchange for taking on extra fuel at Midway."
"Do we even have fuel at Midway?" Davies asked.
"It's a designated ETOPS emergency field, the FAA maintains a tank full of fuel there," Harte explained.
"Tell the Air Force that's fine, then go see about telling someone at the FAA that we're appropriating their gas, don't want yet another bloated bureaucratic organization breathing down our necks," Davies ordered. Harte nodded, then left the office. Davies turned back to Smith then asked, "Would you be able to catch that plane? You probably won't be able to come back here for quite some time, so anything you can't pack by 2100 would have to be shipped later."
"I think so, sir, I don't have much in the way of personal effects in Pearl, only some spare clothes really," Smith replied.
"Do you think Master Chief Boggs could be ready by then?" Davies asked.
"Yes, sir, Boggs told me once that he has moved so many times, he keeps a packed sea bag ready to go at all times," Smith explained.
"And I'm guessing that Enterprise needs pretty much everything. Someone will have to go with her down to the NEX to buy some clothes and other effects," Davies mused.
"Yes, sir," Enterprise replied. Davies was about to say something else when the phone on his desk rang.
He picked up the handset and answered, "Davies. Ah yes Dr. Richter, I was just about to call you, I need you to start packing your equipment up. The timetable got moved up a bit, and I want you out at Midway ASAP." Obviously Richter said something that startled Davies because a shocked expression came over his features. "You did what? Four you say. Well, I'll send Captain Smith down to deal with it," he said with a sigh. "Can you start breaking the equipment down? I want to send you out there soon. Thank you doctor."
"What was that all about?" Smith asked as Davies hung up.
"Apparently the good Doctor Richter decided that he needed more proof that the device worked. He ran a low powered test about ten minutes ago. Wasn't supposed to have enough power to call any girls, so he was very surprised to see four young girls appear out of nowhere," Davies replied, sighing.
"We have any idea who they are?" Smith asked.
"Nope, they passed out much like Enterprise. Luckily Richter thought it would be best to call the corpsmen before he called us, so they're currently at the hospital," Davies explained. "Whelp, you know what they say, when it rains, it pours."
"Do you want me to go check on them?" Smith asked.
Davies sat silently, thinking for several seconds, then said, "Captain, head over to the hospital and debrief our new arrivals. I guess I'll go take Enterprise down to the NEX, and pick up uniforms for the new girls while I'm at it. Send me their sizes when you get them and I'll get some NWUs."
"Aye aye, sir," Smith replied, "Anything else admiral?"
"No, now get going, we still have a war to win," Davies said. Smith stood up, then ran out of the office.
What else could happen today, but honestly I wonder who it could be?
When he got to the hospital, Smith was led to the room where the four girls were being kept. It was a standard hospital room with several beds against the walls. At first he thought that he had the wrong room because it was empty. Then he heard voices coming from the end of the room. A quick glance saw that one of the privacy curtains had been drawn closed over a bed against the far wall. Obviously the girls had woken up and had met in the corner. Smith carefully approached the curtain, trying to listen to the conversation that was going on behind it. The first thing he heard was, "Where are we?"
"I dunno. Does it really matter?" replied a second voice.
"All that matters right now is that we are here, and we are human for some reason," said the third voice.
"What do ya think they're gonna do with us. It's gotta be strange for them, having four ships show up out of nowhere, as humans no less," the fourth voice stated.
"Where will we go now? Who's going to take care of us? Why has no one come for us yet?" Smith could hear from the tone of the voice that the girl speaking was close to tears.
"Calm down, it's only been an hour, chances are that there will be someone along soon. You have to remember that this may be a new situation, but we're still warships of the United States Navy, there's no way they don't have a plan for us." Smith decided that now was a good time to intervene. He pulled the curtain back and cleared his throat, softly. Inside, he saw the four girls sitting together on a bed.
The first thing he thought was that they looked very young. Now Enterprise hadn't been much older than eighteen or twenty herself, but these girls... these girls looked to be ten or twelve. He had read a report in the dossier that ship girl's ages seemed to be based on the type of ship they had been, with destroyers being the youngest and battleships being the oldest. So it stood to reason that the four girls here were destroyers. They were probably of the same class too, since they shared similar features, like siblings. When he was certain that he had gotten their full attention, he said, "Excuse me." One of them, obviously the leader of the group, jumped to her feet instantly, and pulled a second girl up with her.
She came to crisp attention and barked, "USS Nicholas, DD-449 reporting for duty." Smith could see that she had short black hair cut in a military style cut, and a pair of intelligent brown eyes.
The girl she had pulled up with her was the next to speak, "Sir, USS O'Bannon, DD-450." O'Bannon had flaming red hair that reached down to her shoulders, and bright green eyes that twinkled with a hint of mischief. Smith was a bit surprised at how similar these girls looked. If it wasn't for the different hair and eye colors, he would almost think that they were twins. One of the girls still on the bed, jumped to her feet and looked at him.
"USS Fletcher, DD rate number 445 ready for action, sir." Fletcher had brown hair cut similar to Nicholas's, and blue eyes.
The fourth girl stood up and looked at Smith for a second, before saying, "USS Radford, DD-446, are you here to take us somewhere captain?" Radford's hair was brown like Fletcher's, but it reached down to her shoulder blades. Her eyes were brown and wet with tears, obviously she had been the one crying earlier. Radford and Fletcher bore a distinct resemblance, like sisters, but they weren't twins. The four girls were all about the same height, five feet by Smith's guess, and of similar lithe builds. Their bodies were pretty much obscured by the standard issue hospital gowns they each wore. Something about their names clicked in the back of Smith's head, but he couldn't place what it was.
Smith paused for a second before announcing, "My name is Captain James Smith, and I'm your new CO. Now you probably have a lot of questions, but we don't have much time, so I'll do my best to answer whatever you can think of."
Fletcher was the first to speak, "Where are we sir?"
"Right now, the base hospital Pearl Harbor Naval Station, and just so there's no confusion later, the year is currently 2018," Smith replied.
"Captain, why are we here, like this," Radford asked, gesturing to herself.
"I'm going to have to be blunt because we don't have much time. We are currently at war with an extremely aggressive race of creatures known as Abyssals. They have sunk thousands of ships, and have reduced much of the world's blue water navies to so much scrap. We called you here so that you could take the fight to them directly. So I'm asking, are you willing to serve your country once more?" Smith asked. The destroyers stood, speechless for a moment. Then Nicholas stepped up to Smith, stood up on her tiptoes, and stared him directly in the eyes.
"I served for more than 25 years as a US Navy ship. I fought in three wars and got a fistful of medals for that service. My sisters here all have similar records. So when I ask, when do we start? I'm asking for all four of us," she announced, proudly. Smith had to smile a bit at this girl's spirit. He offered her his hand, which she took with a firm grasp.
"Welcome aboard Nicholas," he said, simply. Smith then went to each of the destroyers in turn, and shook their hands.
"A touching gesture captain, you really know how to treat your subordinates," Smith turned to see Admiral Davies standing in the doorway holding a stack of garment bags in his arms. He walked into the room trailed by Enterprise, who was also loaded down with bags. "So, don't keep me waiting, who are they?" Davies asked after a second.
"Admiral, I would like you to meet the destroyers Nicholas, O'Bannon, Fletcher, and Radford," Smith announced.
"Ah, DesRon 21," Davies exclaimed. It's good to have you girls in this fight. I'm Admiral Steven Davies, and I'm Smith's boss. So right now that means I'm the head of your chain of command," Davies said as he laid the bags on the bed. He pointed at Enterprise, who was laying her bags on the bed as well, and said, "This is USS Enterprise, CV-6, she was the first ship we brought back, and the only other one in the US Navy right now." The destroyers looked at Enterprise with a look of shocked amazement.
Fletcher was the first to speak, "You... you're Enterprise? The Enterprise?"
O'Bannon ran over to the older girl and began to shake her hand furiously, "It's a pleasure to meet you. You did so much while we were just chasing subs in the Solomons."
Enterprise desperately tried to extricate her hand from the eager destroyer's grasp, while she said, "I really didn't do that much, I stayed in the back and let my air group do the fighting. You tin cans are the real heroes, getting up close and personal to fight. I could never do that." Smith and Davies were trying very hard not to burst out laughing at the exchange. Two of the Navy's most famous ships, each trying to downplay their achievements to the other.
Finally, Davies managed to find his breath and say, "We picked up some uniforms for you girls to wear. You're going to be shipping out in about two hours, and it would look mighty strange for four girls wearing hospital gowns to get onto a plane, even if it is an Air Force plane."
"Enterprise, could you help them with the uniforms, they might have a bit of trouble at first," Smith asked.
Enterprise finally managed to pry her hand away from O'Bannon's grip and replied, "I would be happy to captain."
"Well then, we'd best be going," Davies announced, "We'll be back in about an hour to pick you all up, so be ready." He then stood and left the room, with Smith following closely. Once they were outside the building, they traded a look, then burst out laughing.
Once they had stopped, Smith said, "We now have Enterprise and half of DesRon 21, I'm starting to think our chances in this war are starting to look up."
"I think you might be right, captain. I think you might be right," Davies replied. "Oh, and by the way, I got a hold of Chief Boggs, he'll be ready to go when the time comes. Now you need to go and finish packing. I'll deal with Enterprise and the destroyers."
"Aye aye, sir," Smith said, then gave the admiral a crisp salute. Davies returned it and nodded.
Smith turned and began to walk back to his BOQ room. We now have four destroyers to add to our roster. I wonder how many we'll have at the end of all this?
NS Midway Island, June 4, 2018
It was a little after 0100 when the Air Force C-5 touched down at Henderson Field on Midway Atoll. Smith, Boggs, Enterprise, and the four destroyers were out of the plane and on the ground before the crew had started refueling. Smith looked around the area for a bit, searching for any facilities where he could berth his charges for the night. He was a bit surprised to see a man running towards him from one of the large hangars.
"You're Captain Smith?" the man called when he got close.
"I'm Smith," Smith replied.
"Commander Eric Rodgers, 33rd Mobile Construction Battalion. I got a call over the radio couple hours ago, said to expect company," Rodgers explained.
"Right now commander, all I need from you is a place to billet my personnel for the night," Smith explained.
"We got two of the old barracks are still standing. They got turned into hotels by an eco-tourism group couple a years ago, but they ran out of money and abandoned the island back in '11. I got my unit put up in one of them, but the other one is empty right now," Rodger supplied.
"Perfect, if you would be so kind as to lead the way commander," Smith said.
"Follow me."
As they walked Smith had a thought, "How much about what this base is going to be for did the admiral tell you?"
"What, about the ship girls?" Smith was a bit stunned to hear Rodger say that. "Captain, my unit used to be based out of Fleet Activities Yokosuka, that's where the Japanese put their first ship girl program. We helped the JMSDF build the first facilities to house them, so we know quite a bit about them. If you don't mind me asking captain, who are the girls you brought with you?"
"The little ones are the destroyers Nicholas, O'Bannon, Fletcher, and Radford, while the other one is the Enterprise," Smith replied.
"Really, we've been running this program for all a week, and we already got the Enterprise? My aren't we lucky," Rodgers mused. He then asked in a more serious tone, "Davies is planning on moving the summoning equipment out here isn't he?"
"That's the plan. He's planning on having the whole thing flown out on the next transport run, and by the way, we managed to set up a bi-weekly transport run by the Air Force. Unfortunately, it's not one-way service yet. The planes will use Midway as a stop on their way to Japan and Australia," Smith said.
"Good, then maybe I can actually get some of the materials I've been asking for the last two weeks. Well, we're here, barracks B. Myself and my unit are across the road in barracks A, just knock on the door and have the on duty officer come get me. Pleasure meeting you captain, I hope my men and I can do a good job in building America's newest line of defense," Rodgers said, offering his hand to Smith. As Smith took it, Rodgers said, "And captain, welcome to lovely Midway Atoll, I hope you enjoy your stay."
Smith was a bit surprised at how nice the rooms in the barracks were, but Rodgers had said, it had been turned into a hotel. Each of the rooms had a single bed and a desk. Luckily the central AC unit was working properly, keeping the building at a comfortable temperature. Smith claimed one of the rooms on the second floor, and threw his sea bag on the bed. He went down the hall to check on how the girls were doing, and was a bit surprised to see Radford trying to drag a bed down the hall. "Radford," he asked, "What're you doing?"
"Oh, I just wanted to sleep in the same room as my sister is all," she replied, sheepishly. Smith nodded, then bent over to help her move the bed. He helped her re-arrange the room the Fletcher had picked out so that they could comfortably fit both beds in the room. After that was done, he went to ask if Nicholas and O'Bannon wanted similar treatment, but they turned him down. When he checked on Enterprise, he was a bit surprised to see her lying face down on her bed, fast asleep, still wearing her NWUs. He pulled a spare blanket out of the closet and laid it over her, then turned off the lights. He went and found the room that Chief Boggs had claimed, and sat down on the desk.
"Well chief, what do you think?" Smith asked,
"Bout what, bout the base? Or bout the girls?" Boggs asked.
"About the girls," Smith clarified.
"I think it's amazing, that they're all so different from each other, especially the Fletchers. You can tell just by talking to Enterprise, that she's a born leader. She'll make a good officer some day, especially if she has you teaching her. Nick's the same way, she keeps after her own, and God help the person who threatens her girls. O'Bannon's a firecracker, she's the kind of person who'll be the happiest while blowing something up. Fletcher and Radford, now that's a match made in heaven. Those two will probably stick together like glue, and will work the best while together. If you know what's good for you sir, don't split them up," Boggs replied
"I had thought something along the same lines," Smith said.
"It's gonna be interesting to see what other girl's personalities are like. Are they based on experiences during the war, or something else," Boggs said.
"I don't know chief, hell I don't think we'll ever know. Not fully," Smith said.
"Well anyway, you up for a couple rounds of Acey-deucy? I slept like a log on the plane, and there's no way I'm getting back to sleep tonight," Boggs announced.
"Yeah chief, that would be great. You got a board, or do you need mine?" Smith replied.
"Naw, I got a board, never leave my sea bag without it," Boggs said as he rummaged around in his bag for the board in question. Finally finding it, he laid it out on the desk. Smith and Boggs ended up playing the game until the sun came up.
The game finally ended when O'Bannon burst into the room the next day. "What're we going to do today captain?" she asked loudly.
"Depends on who else is awake," Smith said as he stood and stretched out his back. I was planning on inspecting the base today."
"Nick's awake, I know. Fletcher and Radford are still asleep," she explained. "So is Enterprise."
Smith had a thought, then asked, "You know what time it is?"
"Bout 0530, why?" replied Boggs.
"Because for the first time in a long time, I actually have a command with a flagpole. I'm going to go see if Commander Rodgers has a flag," Smith announced, then left the room.
"Oh boy, this is gonna be good," Boggs whispered. "Do me a favor would ya, don't wake the others up just yet. I have an idea about what he's going to go do."
"What?" O'Bannon asked.
"You'll see," Boggs chuckled. Sure enough, five minutes later the shrill whine of a Bosun's pipe could be heard throughout the barracks, followed a second later by the sound of a bugler playing reveille.
Smith ran down the hall banging on each of the doors shouting, "Reveille reveille, all hands heave out and trice up. Formation in ten minutes at the flag pole." The three girls still asleep in barracks B groggily made their way outside. They found Captain Smith, Chief Boggs, and Commander Rodgers standing there waiting for them. Apparently Rodger's seabees were just as surprised to hear the reveille call because the staggered out of their barracks in a very similar manner. Smith looked over at Boggs, "You know what to do chief."
"Aye aye, sir," Boggs said, then he turned and bellowed, "ALL HANDS INTO FORMATION, RIGHT THIS GODDAMNED INSTANT." That woke the seabees up because they instantly closed ranks. The girls were a little more confused, they tried to copy the seabees, but had a little trouble. Boggs saw this and went over to them. After trying several times to explain the concept of a formation, and failing, he had to physically grab each girl and put them into the right position. When this was done, he walked up to Smith and gave him a crisp salute, "The detail is formed and ready sir."
Smith returned the salute and said, "Very well master chief, take your post." Boggs did a crisp about face, then marched to stand next to the formation. A group of four men, who had obviously been briefed beforehand, detached themselves from the formation, and marched to the flagpole, carrying the national colors. They clipped the flag in place, and Smith yelled, "All hands, HAND SALUTE." When Smith saw that everyone had followed the command, he yelled, "Color guard, HOIST THE COLORS." The colors began to climb up the flagpole, accompanied be the sound of To the Colorsbeing played by the bugler. When he had finished Smith yelled, "READY, TWO," and all the salutes were lowered. The last command wasn't really necessary due to the fact that the bugler had called To the Colors, but Smith thought that the extra command might help the girls learn the intricacies of the ceremony. The color guard detached themselves from the pole and retook their positions in the formation. Once they had done this, Smith commanded, "At ease." Commander Rodgers stepped up and called to his unit, then they left the area to go start their day's work.
A few minutes later Rodgers came back over to where Smith was standing and said, "All right, you'll be living on Midway for the foreseeable future, so it's time for the nickel tour." Rodgers led them through the base pointing out the building that had been refurbished, and where they were planning on building new buildings. They had actually already re-built the old headquarters building, and it was ready for Smith to move into. Rodgers explained that they were going to follow the system that the Japanese had figured out. They were planning on building separate dorms for each class of ship, where in destroyers would live with destroyers, carriers would live with carriers, and so on.
Smith watched with interest as a unit of seabees driving a bulldozer, knocked down one of the old buildings. "When will all of this be done?" Smith asked after a moment.
"We'll probably never be done with all the construction really. The way Admiral Davies painted this base, he thinks that it's going to be constantly expanding. But for the current plans? If I can get the materials I ordered here, I can be done in two weeks," Rodgers explained. "Sir, are we about done here?"
"Well then, I best not keep you from your men for too long commander," Smith said. Rodgers gave him a salute, then left. "Well, I have quite a bit to do in the new HQ. Everyone is free for the rest of the day."
"What're we supposed to do Captain?" Enterprise asked.
"Go run, go for a swim, explore the island, and just go have fun. I have work to do, no sense in dragging all of you into it," Smith replied. Boggs was the first to give Smith a salute, then he ran off. He was followed by Nicholas, who saluted for her DesRon, and finally Enterprise saluted, then ran off after the destroyers.
Well, not a whole lot to do around here until Davies gets some more personal sent out. Both Naval and regular. Might as well call home and ask for an update. Smith walked towards the HQ building whistling a tuneless melody.
Authors note: Chapter three is done. Where we meet the beginnings of DesRon 21 and finally get everyone out to Midway. I have to admit right now that I have never actually played the Kancolle game(not being able to read Japanese, plus the crap they put up for foreign IP's being the main reasons, and I got WoWS Beta access so I already have one game eating up my free time) so I don't actually know that much about the game play mechanics and characters. I have seen the Anime and read most of the translated mangas, but I am still a bit apprehensive about introducing one of the established characters. That may change in later chapters, but you'll just have to wait and see.
Right now I have finals staring me in the face, so writing is going on hold for a bit. But I should be back next week.