Hermione warped in on the ship's bridge, surprised to find it nearly empty. A solitary Rei Ayanami sat behind a display console, typing a few notes into a data log. The witch scurried over as quickly as she could, acutely aware that she looked much sillier sprinting around as an adult than a child.
"Excuse me," she said. "Where is everyone?"
The girl turned, and Hermione instantly spotted the 'II' pinned to the front of her uniform.
"Everyone is down in the engine room, Mrs. Granger." replied Number Two. "We are about to go underway. I am almost finished here. I have the coordinates."
"Oh, that's very- thank you," Hermione whispered. "Listen, I'm sorry about what I said earlier."
"I realize my demeanor may not be the most social. I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused due to my lack of 'suave'."
"No, no!" cried the witch, suddenly wrapping the girl in a hug. "Don't you tell yourself that! I was wrong to say what I did. It takes all sorts to keep us going- young and old, friendly and grumpy, quiet and noisy. It's not my place to make an insult like that. So I'm the one who's apologizing, and that's final."
"Mrs. Granger, I cannot reach my AEGIS if you continue to hold me so."
"Oh- right- sorry," said the woman, releasing Rei to plug in their destination.
They arrived on a stage that had been assembled in front of the ship's central engine regulator. Several other high-rankers surrounded them- The Doctor, Chief Program Coordinator Suzumiya, the heads of Research and Development and Engineering, and Captain Littner stood next to Chief of Regulations Kiryuin with a particularly hostile glare. The cavernous room was filled to the brim with nearly everyone who could claim to work for the Illuminati- TDAs, scientists, and kitchen staff were all gathered together in anticipation, though for what Hermione was not exactly sure.
"Ah, Mrs. Granger," said Artemis, working his way around the stage to shake her hand. "I just took a look at the report from your last incursion. I need to speak with you in my office privately after this is over."
"Yes, sir," saluted the witch, who was beginning to realize that her custom-made training robes were quite ill-fitting now.
A lecture on my failure, I'm sure. Though with Artemis, who knows. Maybe he'll be dosing me up with gamma rays.
He turned to address the crowd, tapping something on the lapel of his suit that must have been a microphone.
"I will keep this short, because we all have very important jobs to return to. It is my honor to guide this organization as we set out to preserve the safety of the metaverse. The cornerstone of our success is this, our new base of operations, the Cathedral Cosmos."
A round of applause rose from the crowd.
"I feel that there is no one better to command our vessel than our very own Captain Yoko Littner. Let us give her a warm welcome."
Another surge of applause, some wild and peppered with cat-calls, much of it restrained. Yoko stepped forward, bowing, which caused a few more excited whistles to rise from the crowd.
"Thanks, Artemis. It's great to have command of a ship like this, with all of you smiling faces working under me. It's a dream come true, I really mean it. Except the parking."
A few hearty laughs were quickly suffocated by the silence of the Reis. After Yoko's attempt at comedy had been completely stifled, she continued.
"But like Artemis said, you've got jobs to get back to so I won't keep you much longer. Core Drill, please," she said, holding out her hand. Chief of Engineering Dexter pushed a few of the taller officials out of the way and scrambled over to Yoko, handing her a small object on a chain. Yoko held it up in front of the crowd.
"Thanks to the geniuses we've got working for us, we were able to grab a chunk of solid Spiral Energy and synthesize it into a Core Drill, which is all we need to reach 100% operational capacity."
Well, that all makes sense now, thought Hermione. Would a little transparency have hurt?
"Okay, I'm going to need everyone to listen up here!" shouted Yoko, the microphone enhancing her raised voice. "We're all going to need to be fired up for this to work! Can I get a YEAH?"
Half of the audience shouted "YEAH!" in return, while the Reis whispered their response.
"You can do better than that, come on!" roared their captain. "Can I hear that, but LOUDER?!"
"I was not aware that this was going to be a pep rally," whispered Rei Two.
"Only now are things not turning up how you expected?" giggled Hermione back. "You've had it lucky."
"YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" screamed Yoko alongside her subordinates. "Okay, that's good. Now you're going to have to do that, and say, 'Cathedral Cosmos, Spin On'! You got that?"
Another YEAH was her response. She grabbed the Core Drill by its tiny handle and thrust her index finger as high in the air as she could.
"You see this? This is the drill… that's gonna save the heavens! CATHEDRAL COSMOS, SPIN ON!"
With the mighty bellow of the audience behind her, Yoko drove the drill's tip into the engine regulator. Bright green lines of energy radiated out in an unsurprising spiral pattern along the machinery as it began to churn and whine. The whine grew into a steady blast of sound as the engines purred to life, a slight shift in the floor indicating that the vessel had begun to move. Thunderous applause followed before Artemis held up a hand and announced "DISSMISSED!"