„Commander?"
„Its Admiral, Maru. Whats up?"
The cute, round face of the submarine looked at me questioningly, before raising her voice again.
"You didn`t even eat anything for dinner yesterday…" Oh, right. Guess I forgot… after that round trip to get resources, I just did the paperwork and fell straight into my bed.
"Y-yeah, I guess." I admitted, getting up briefly to pull the curtains of my office window, letting some orange rays coming from the morning sun inside. Dawn broke over Okinawa, and it was quite the pretty sight for someone who lacked sleep. Despite passing out almost instantly after getting into my room, it felt like I hadn`t slept at all.
"Uhm… it's the job of your secretary ship to make you food, you know. So… if you want anything, you just have to assign one of us for kitchen duty…" Maruyu responded, still a bit shy about the topic for some reason. Perhaps she couldn`t cook very well… either way, I wouldn´t mind it right now.
"Ah, yeah, well… for now, could you do that? I don´t mean to judge a book by its cover, but Tenryuu doesn`t look like the ideal housewife."
Ah yes, Tenryuu. The result of our ship-building-experiment the day before. Bauxite, steel and fuel formed a purple haired girl about the same height as me in a process the fairies just didn`t let me watch, with one yellow eye and an eyepatch on the other… which made me wonder, since she had just been born. Why did she have a bad eye already?
Either way, the difference between Maruyu and Tenryuu was astronomic. While Maruyu was small, timid and shy, Tenryuu`s barsh, impulsive and outgoing behavior, along with her… quite attractive form was a stark contrast to the submarine. She was a light cruiser, carrying singlebarrel guns and torpedos, as well as a sword for reasons I couldn´t fanthom. Perhaps it made more sense on the battlefield to carry close range armament as well… which would explain the strange, trapez-shaped things sticking out from her boots. I thought they were rudders the first time I had seen them, but they would have no point in front like this. Perhaps they were breakwater, but then again, no other shipgirl I had seen so far had any, and the Tenryuu class wasn´t fameous for it either… so the last thing I could think of was some sort of close ranged weapon for kicking people.
Finally, and that was her most prominent feature aside from the eye- Tenryuu´s head featured two articulated... horns, I guess you could call them. She got mad at me when I called them ears before, and then showed me human ears below them… did the fairies know anything about effective design? Probably not, or else the would`ve just given her earbuds or something… not that I was complaining, the girl was a beauty, just… loud.
But back to Maru´s antics.
"W-well… yes… I can.." She answered my question regarding breakfast, fidgeting a bit. "I`ve… never done it before, but…" Geez. The way she was talking you´d think she was talking about her virginity.
"Its going to be fine, Maru." I assured her, patting her head with a smile. "Even if its not perfect the first time around, i´ll still eat it just the same if -you- made it." Some extra reassurance for the girl couldn´t hurt.
"Okay… okay! Maruyu will do her best for the Admiral!" Slowly she lightened up, and with an affirmative nod, she rushed out of the room, leaving me with my thoughts for a moment as I sipped on my coffee.
For a moment.
"Oi, Admiral." A harsher voice came from the door, and Tenryuu came into the room after knocking on the doorframe once. "Whats the little pipsqueak so excited about?"
"I allowed her to make me breakfast for today." No reason to lie, there. "Seems like Maru just likes every little thing she can be useful with."
"Tsk, seems that way." She retorted, coming over to my desk and sitting down on the edge of it, legs crossed. "So, when are we gonna go for a battle, huh?"
"Pardon…?" I blinked, coffee in hand.
"A battle. Shooting Abyssals. Boom, boom, dead ships. Ya got my drift?"
"I know what a battle is, Tenryuu." I sighed a bit. While she certainly was prettier than Maruyu, she… also had her downsides. "You´re like a chick who just hatched from an egg, asking me when you´re going to fly. Be a bit more patient, we`ll do a few more resource runs first… we need more firepower, more ships, and some reserves. Right now, if we attack them, we only have the option of winning or absolute defeat."
"So? Ya scared?"
"Damn right I am." Glancing into her eye, she blinked a bit as I was being so blunt about it. "I`m scared for the sake of you guys. Maruyu is a swimming target, and no offense, Tenryuu, but there´s a lot of deadly things out there that would have you for breakfast."
"…Feh, pun intended, huh?" The girl dressed in a black boarding school uniform gestured over to the door, where Maruyu just returned, carrying a tray with my breakfast on it.
"No, actually, but that's a welcome surprise." I gave her a grin, and folded my hands as I noticed what Maru had whipped up- something simple, toast, various spreads, a scrambled egg, and even more coffee. I would probably need it, seeing how I still felt a bit drowsy.
"Looks fantastic, Maru, and it smells good too!" I praised her, making the girl smile a tiny bit. "So, are you guys hungry too?"
"U-uhm…" Maru began, but Tenryuu just rolled her eye at it. "I could go for some fuel, personally. Not like i´ll need it for a resource run, but it still tastes good."
"Not one for toast, are you, Tenryuu?" I teased, taking a bite out of one. It was slightly… burned, but who gave a damn, the girl did her best.
"That's not it. Maruyu made that for YOU specifically. It wouldn`t be right if I ate it." Up until that point I wasn't sure if she could eat it at all, but that cleared things up… a little.
"Th-then i`ll make some more!" Maruyu intercepted that one, raising her hand. "I... I need practice, anyways!"
Tenryuu groaned in response, rubbing her forehead. "Alright, alright. Lets all have a snack and then be fucking productive, I feel like i´m rusting, just sitting around here."
After eating lunch together with the two, and after many, many gazes of Tenryuu`s unrelentful eye, I finally gave in and decided to give them something to do.
"Alright, guys, here`s our mission for today. There`s an automated fuel production rig in the Orel sea, right here." I pointed at the map which once again was spread out by four fairies, one for each corner, as Tenryuu`s eye seem to… shine. "The rig has been out of commission for a few years now, due to the area being infested with Abyssals. We`ll head there with a few detours to disguise our intentions, then activate it, and recover whats left of the fuel there, then we head back. As i`ve said.. the Abyss is there, much more present than at any other of our regular resource corridors, so there´s a good chance we´ll get into a brawl with them. Does that sound good to you, Tenryuu?"
The purple haired one grinned, and slammed her fist into her open hand. "Hell yeah it does! Finally some action, just for me!"
"Not just for you. Maru will come along too, providing recon and carrying some fuel on the way back, and i`ll accompany you guys in my patrol boat."
This caused Tenryuu to blink in confusion.
"-You- want to come along, too?" Seems like she wasn`t used to commanders on the front line, and she almost became nervous at this thought. Made me chuckle… she was cute when she got this way, the lights on her…. Horns turned a different color, flushing pink.
"Yeah. Maruyu isn´t exactly a powerhorse of a warmachine, i`ll provide cover for her along with you. Besides, the more firepower we have, the more Abyssals we´ll bring down to the ground."
"Can´t argue with that, heh…" Tenryuu scratched the back of her head, now even cuter than before.
"S…so… Maruyu will help with the fight, too?" The little submarine asked, obviously having some second thoughts.
"As a supportive role, from the back, yes." I once again had to remind a fairy that pencil erasers, no matter how tasty they might smell, weren`t edible. It was just like with humans... some fairies were quite smart. Some of them... not so much.
Either way, with this decided, i stood up, headed for the door and grabbed the sword off of the display table, grinning to the two girls. „Well then, shall we?"
The sea was calm, but the wind was harsh, spraying little droplets of water in my face whenever i got into Tenryuu`s wake. Maruyu was submerged below us, but i´d given her a waterproof radio to communicate with us as i moved into position, covering Maruyu`s flank, with Tenryuu taking up the other side. A V formation. „Alright, girls. We´re entering Abyssal waters... keep your eyes peeled, and stay calm." A flick of two switches later, the two 14,7mm machine guns sticking out of the rotating mount further ahead of the ship got moving, and i pulled the pins on the torpedos left and right of me, arming them. I was well aware these fast attack crafts weren´t very well armed, and barely better than speedboats, but with Abyssals as our enemies, i needed all the nimble swiftness i could get. With shipgirl sized torpedos and 14,7mm Sabot ammunition, i would be able to do some damage... so long as i avoided taking any.
„Yosha." Tenryuu replied, placing a hand on the scabbard of her sword, her cannons tilting down into firing position. „Well? What are we waiting for...! Lets get going!"
„Don`t rush into things, Tenryuu. This chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Maru can´t keep up with us if we floor it, and we might need the fuel for a prolonged fight." I attempted to calm her down, but the girl seemed to itch for a fight already. We had barely been at sea for an hour, and already i was missing the home port... something felt different, as if i was being watched. I kept looking left and right of me, but couldn´t see anyone but the purple haired girl.
„Oi." She muttered over the sound of the engines. „Don´t lose -your- calm either, big man. That little sub might be our weakest link, but you`re the carabiner hooking our chain to the wall we´re holding up. If you snap, the wall´ll come crashing down."
„Gotcha." I took a deep breath, and looked ahead, seeing the ghastly image of an old oil rig, converted for fuel production. „Our target´s up ahead."
„Admiral!" Maruyu`s voice came from the speaker of my radio, and i pressed the transmission button quickly.
„What is it, Maru?"
„There´s multiple hostiles approaching, head on!" Indeed, i could see it... a few dark spots in the water, hissing out towards us.. „T-torpedos!"
„Dodge them, Maru!" I ordered quickly, before giving Tenryuu a sign- she pulled hard starboard, while i yanked the rudder over to the port side. Getting into a heart shape formation, we let Maruyu slip through them, while Tenryuu fired her torpedos into the water from their flank, i did the same, pulling a lever to let them fall off both sides of the boat... multiple explosions rocked the water, and the first thing that came up was decapitated by Tenryuu´s sword... It seemed like a Ro-class destroyer, but with its armor blown off there was a grotesque, mutilated, and partially cybernetic girl underneath, now missing a head, and falling dead into the water. „One!" she counted, swiping her sword aside.
„Don´t get cocky now. Maru, you alright?"
„Th-that was close!" Maruyu responded. „I`m alright! Heading for the rig! H-hold them off of me, please!"
„Heh, ya scared? No reason to be scared when Tenryuu´s giving you cover!" Four more Abyssal vessels emerged from the sea- three Ro-class destroyers, some of them missing armor plating, and a Ha-class who had fired off its torpedos.
„There they are...!" Grunting, i pulled over, grabbing the joystick that controlled the guns in front and pointed them over to the first Ro-class, pressing the trigger repeatedly for short, precise bursts.
Over the terrible noise of the weapons, i could hear denting and screaming steel, a few sparks were seen as the Sabots pierced through the armor plates like a hot knife through butter... It pointed its turrets at me, although it never got the time to fire before i managed to disable it.
Tenryuu´s lucky goddess was shining down on her too, as the single barreled guns mounted on her sides hit the Ha-class square in the center mass, the minitureized turrets sounding more like high powered rifles. „Hah!" They returned to neutral position, reloading their shells, while Tenryuu´s leg kicked one of the Ro´s in the... face? I presumed it was, as the other one had its head there. The blade on her boot lodged into its side, and she grunted, seeing the turrets of the enemy ship point up at her, but a prolonged burst of machine gun fire made that ease up, my speedboat slipping through their breaking formation.
„Admiral!" I heard her say, but.. not as a praise. The Ha-class had its guns trained on me, and this time, it actually did fire- i ducked my head down as quickly as i could as a shell pierced through the windshield, leaving a warm trail of air hissing over my back, a second shell piercing the side of my boat, getting stuck there- a dud, thankfully.
„Getting reckless now? What did i say before?!" Tenryuu scolded, throwing her sword precisely at the Ha-class and killing it, while freeing her foot from the Ro-class. A final one remained, and Tenryuu hopped over, using the dead body of the stabbed Ro as a stepping stone, reclaiming her sword- and while she did take two hits of her own, which exploded and ripped away some of her uniform, a mighty downward cleave bifurcated the Ro-class and caused its aft portion to explode.
„Hah... seems to be the last of `em." Tenryuu released her breath, bringing her sword back up and into its sheath, while i inspected the damage on my boat. It was way above the waterline, so the shell didn´t do much, still... i didn´t like the feeling of having an explosive charge around my back, so i pulled it out, carefully, and tossed it into the water.
Behind us, the rig gave off a loud hum, and its lights came on... seems like Maruyu had been sucessful in her mission as well.
„Lets go inside and get you a drink, hm?" I grinned at Tenryuu, who then came over to my boat, reached out her fist and bumped it against mine.
„Sounds like a blast. Lets do it."
Neither of us had noticed the black disc shape re-submerging into the water, after large blue luminous eyes had watched the battle..
„Wo." The word echoed through the room, the voice of the carrier bouncing off many surfaces of the green tinted steel, the wooden works of art and only escaped through broken bulkheads.
„Did you hear... that, Midway?" A woman, clad in black, with two horns poking out from her forehead called out. Her glamerous black hair, neat and sleek, hung down to her lower back, halfway covering the steel covers of her spineal interface, mechanized parts directly going into her nervous system, a thick set of cables going back... to a looming monstrosity standing on four hands, and carrying massive turrets, three guns each, on its shoulders. It was blind, filled to the brim with weapons and had a maw big enough to swallow a destroyer whole. The woman, who´s red eyes glared into the dark room, crossing her hands in front of her supple chest which also featured cybernetic implants, was known as the Battleship Princess, one of the commanding units of the Abyssal fleet, and a legendary adversary capable of annhilating entire fleets on her own.
„...You will notice that my... ears still work, Battleship." Another woman of similar size, but with even longer, pale white hair retorted, smaller, triangular horns on each side of her head, a dress similar to Battleship, but in white, her limbs covered in glowing scars. „Yet again... a cockroach got on its hind legs... to challange a praying mantis."
„They managed.. . To reactivate installation seven... with no losses." Battleship interrrupted, but was silenced by a glare of the woman as she turned around to face her. Unlike Battleships beautiful face, Midway`s was halfway covered with bizarre growth made of blackened steel, covering her mouth and nose like a the muzzle of an attack dog. Her eyes, similary red, spoke of unimaginable sadisim and hatred, and she turned on her heel in a snap.
„Installation seven..? A rusty oil rig... for their shipgirls to feed on...? You`re scared, because.. a young cockroach... came across a fountain?! We are one step... one step away... from reclaiming my lost kingdom, and you...! You concern yourself... with a weakling?! An unarmed submarine, a light cruiser... outdating even the lowest of our own, and... a young boy in a speedboat! That gets the mighty Battleship Princess to tremble... in fear?!"
„I apologize. I merely thought... we should investigate... and deploy one of our agents... to sabotage their roots." Battleship bowed her head, sinking to one knee, Wo doing the same.
„...So be it, Sister. I shall create... the ideal adversary for this weak man. She will... bring him to an early end." Midway glanced back to her sister, and turned around to look over her plans again. „Now cease to bother me... with this nonsense!"
„Yes. Come on... Wo."
„Wo."
The two of them left, Battleship gritting her teeth and swallowing a comment she was about to make, as Midway looked over to a preticular piece of wreckage she could see out of one window.
„...Kirishima... Yes... she will be... adequate building material... for this weapon of vengence."