„DD7 calling Behemoth. Requesting response."
„Behemoth understands. Report your findings."
„Enemy battleship transport has successfully avoided anti-aircraft fire. It remains unstopped. Current location of the transport is unknown."
„We understand. Punish those responsible and carry on with fleet operations. It is of little difference if they are destroyed at sea or above it."
„DD7, copy that."
Admiral Nimitz was less than pleased about this, circling the holographic map of the war room in restlessness. "So… how exactly did they manage to get behind a 15 mile thick shield of anti aircraft guns that we erected around Okinawa…?"
"Reports from the unit… say the aircraft was very small… the size of a humanoid, carrying some sort of… aerodynamic pod, likely the cargo." Aircraft Carrier Demon responded, looking over a tablet computer with the data displayed.
"Humanoid…? A drone isn`t that nimble." Nimitz responded, clenching her fists while still pacing up and down.
"No, not a… drone, but perhaps… something similar to a shipgirl…" She looked up, tilting her head slightly to the side. "The americans have.. experimented with this before…"
"And we don`t have anything like it? Isn`t the Abyss miles ahead when it comes to technology?"
Carrier shrugged. "Nazara never deemed it… necessary. His priority was to establish… a safe route over the sea…"
"How is something that will gain us air superiority not necessary? That's insane. Nazara should know better than this." Grunting a bit, she finally stopped pacing around the room and folded her hands. "Make sure we´ll start developing a humanoid-based fighter within the next twelve hours. If they start using them now, then we`ll need something to shoot them down reliably… after that we move on to bombers and parasite aircraft, maybe flying aircraft carriers… we`re not limited to the sea this way." Nimitz gave her a nod, and Carrier responded with one of her own, starting to... smile. She didn´t know when she last smiled, if ever, but after initial doubts their commander began to bloom and rise to the challenge, exceeding her expectations. For her the experiment concerning a human commander was a full success, but… Midway was not interested in it, and Nazara had his doubts as well. If she was aware of this, perhaps even the Queen was skeptical. But with time, hopefully they would trust her too.. who knows, maybe one day the entire Abyss would follow Admiral Nimitz.
After I had spent the night at Akashi`s workshop, being patched back together and injected… things, I finally got back to my office, to my coffee, and the… problematic day that would be ahead of me.
Thankfully, breakfast was made as I arrived, so after regaining some strength, I summoned the shipgirls to my office to discuss the next steps.
"Alright, girls, today Musashi arrives, and with her come a new set of objectives. Since our fleet has grown so much, I would like to reassign the posts of you guys, as well as change the fleet composition." I began, folding my hands while Unryuu brought in the onigiri she made. An odd choice for breakfast, but she made it for me, so I didn´t complain… by the looks of it, she made a few for the others as well, too. "Bismarck, i`d like to put you on office duty for now. We didn`t plan for three battleships at once, and our supply situation isn`t secure yet… so for now, I would like you to be my secretary."
Bismarck gave me a nod. "Jawohl, Herr Admiral. I understand completely- spending some time in the home port will help familiarize myself with it, too." Well, glad we cleared that up.
"Shiranui, you´ll be in charge of the communications room for now. We`ll need to stay informed of the situation, now that our closest ally is no more. If an attack comes to us, we´ll be ready."
"Hooray. I get to put a gun in my mouth before the Abyss gets to us." Everyone looked at Shiranui in a bewildered manner, and she started to grin. "Kidding, kidding."
"….ANYWAY, moving on." I cleared my throat, seriously wondering about Shiranui`s mental state. "Tenryuu, you´ll be in charge of training drills. You`ll also be the flagship of the first fleet for the time being."
"R-really?! Awesome! Hell yeah, did you hear that, Nui? I`m the flagship- OW!"
"Don`t. Call me Nui. We`re not girlfriends, Ten-chan". The pink haired one responded, while the purple cruiser held her nose that had been flicked.
I glared at them. "Hey! Hey, take it outside, girls. We`re still in the meeting. Either way, Maruyu, you`re our transport ship, so you take care of the postal services. We`re expecting some shipments this week, so that's an important job too.. finally, Mary…"
…I looked at the Brunette, and she looked at me, tilting her head with a questioning smile.
"….I´ve got nothing. Well, I didn`t plan for you either, and I don´t know how long the US forces will keep you here, so… uh, morale officer, I suppose? Or you could just keep me informed of the things happening in the base." Had I known about her whereabouts earlier then I wouldn`t have said that. Nevertheless, she raised her hand enthusiastically and grinned. "I can do both! Leave it to me, Admiral!"
"Alright, good… then everyone, do your best today. We can still change your jobs out later if things don't work out, but for now let`s make sure we`re ready for our guest."
They looked at me, until Tenryuu scratched the back of her head with a faint, insecure laugh.
"Ahaha… uh. Shit. I forgot to tell you. She`s here already."
I stared back at her, dumbstruck. "W-what?!"
"Y-yeah… she´s down in the lobby, waiting for this meeting to finish…" She still continued to laugh, making me even more ticked off. Seriously, that was a bad first impression for an outsider..! I was already beyond embarrassed when I crashed into Mary the other day, and now this..?
"…Meetings finished. I`ll be with you in a moment, Bismarck. …Damnit, Tenryuu."
Jumping up, I hastily went out of the room and down into the lobby to make up for the lost time, but what I saw was not what I expected, at all. I wasn´t sure what I was expecting, but I didn`t expect her to sit there, her guns still strapped on (Which were colossal, I had to admit, the whole rig was bigger than anything i`d ever seen!) and played games on a handheld. ...I had no words, until I eventually brought myself to go over to the bronze-skinned woman and extend my hand for a greeting.
"You must be Musashi! I`m the commander of this base, Shichiro Ya…mamoto.." I briefly stumbled over my own words, seeing her piercing glare directed to me, then she stood up, towering over me with that gigantic rigging. Without her high heels, she would still be a bit taller than me, and it didn't help that she carried the weight of a car on her back. I felt like a looming shadow was cast over me, before she adjusted the half-rimmed glasses she wore and huffed, speaking up at last.
"Hmf. You surely made me wait a while. Very well. The second ship of the Yamato-class, Musashi, has arrived."
I wanted to say many things. So many things. But under the pressure of that piercing glare, and at the sight of her body, all words died in my throat… the difference between her and the rest of the ships in my fleet was stellar, to say the least. Not just her mocca skin color, but i`ve never seen a ship so… physically fit before. Her arms, legs and abs looked like she went to the gym every evening and didn´t leave until midnight…. Well, it wasn´t that bad. But one could easily see the outlines and subtle bumps of her muscles… pairing that with a rack bigger even than Unryuu or Bismarck (Whom, I hadn`t mentioned, was quite the looker herself), the fact that she was so tall and wore so little, and that piercing glare (Have I mentioned that?), I was unable to bring out words, only single letters that bore no sense.
"As expected! I`ve went from a base I was not welcome in to one with an incompetent leader... My luck is not the best, it seems." Musashi grunted, snapping around as Unryuu poked her side.
"Don`t be like that, Musashi… we`re friendly, and we worked hard to be able to keep you here…" She smiled, placing a hand on her wrist. "Let me show you to your bunk… and give the Admiral a few moments to recover."
"Hmpf. Very well then." Musashi`s glare finally left me, and with it, I could breathe again... looking after them, it took me several minutes to get moving again, and it wasn`t on my own accord, but Tenryuu giving me a slap on the back.
"Oi, that don`t seem good. What's with her?" Thank you, Captain Obvious. Still, i`d rather have her right now than someone who glared like this.
"….Seems as if she doesn`t like me…" I retorted, then I swallowed, slowly moving back to the office.
Tenryuu followed, seemingly a bit worried. "That I can tell, yeah. …shit, i`ve never seen you this scared before since that time when you freaked out about a broken CCU."
"Tenryuu..! If you keep reminding me of that, i`ll put you on kitchen duty!" My head turned to her in a snap, but the same moment I shook it. "…Sorry, nevermind. Just… a little bit on the edge just now."
Taken aback by my earlier threat, she took a moment to recover, before nodding slowly."Yeah, you`re lookin` the part. Why don´t you take a bath or something? Something to take your mind off of it, cuz we need you in top form." Genuine concern filled her face, in such a way I hadn`t seen before. Did our sparring from before leave such an impression of me?
"Don´t want to. There`s so much more to do, I don`t have time for a long bath right now, I need to-"
She gripped my arm to stop me there and glare lightly, making me swallow hard again.
"Don´t give me that crap, Admiral. Bisko can do that… she`s got a lot more endurance than you`ll ever have. Take care of your body before it breaks, damn you."
"…But I don`t-" I began, only to be cut off again.
"What? Ya scared?! Scared to bathe alone or something? I`d wash your back, you know. It's only natural for a subordinate." God damn it, Tenryuu, you`re making me blush here…!
"I… I don´t… I`m not even.." I began, but… what was I supposed to say..? That could so easily lead to accidents, it was insane…!
And what was even more insane was her pull on my arm, as she went straight for the bathroom designated for officers.
"Don`t be such a wuss, man!"
A wuss I was, because I started to shiver when we entered the bath. Not because of the chilly air, but… we were essentially going to bathe together. Me, and that girl I knew for... what, two weeks now? I swallowed a dry lump in my throat, slowly, carefully.
"Tenryuu… lock the door. Goodness, don´t forget to lock the door. If anyone catches wind of this…"
She raised an eyebrow in return, as if expecting me to finish that sentence, before doing as I asked and closing the door, turning the key twice. "There, ya wuss. What are you getting fidgety about, huh?" She then turned on the warm water and let the bathtub fill up- needless to say the tub was comfortably sized, but nowhere near as big as the bathhouse found in the dock area, which was essentially a remodeled shower room from the school days of this installation.
"…You don`t get it, do you. A man and a woman bathing together, especially those who aren`t related… its... it's quite a different feeling from bathtime with your parents, you know…?"
My explanation left her confused and even more misunderstanding. "I don't have parents, ya know."
Oh, right. …I kept forgetting those girls weren`t humans, they… they were so much like humans, except… except I felt attracted to them, unlike with your average human woman…
"Aw, hell, just stop standing there like you´re about to be crucified, man. Strip down and let some water wash over…. You…"
She stopped talking as I closed my eyes tightly and started taking off my shirt, tossing it aside along with my cap, the undershirt following suit. "W…woah, what… what is…?!" Seems like the feeling was starting to hit her, there. As I managed to open my eyes again, I noticed her face had gotten completely red, same as her lights up above on her headgear, which began to move a bit randomly.
"Tenryuu, uhm…" I began, collecting words. "If we´re going to do this, maybe its best if we… face each other back to back." I received a nod, and soon enough, we both turned around.
Taking off my shoes and socks I didn`t think much… even though seeing Tenryuu´s shirt drop to the ground made me tremble, I didn´t fully realize the problem until I undid my belt and brought down the pants.
Oh, mommy. My underwear had turned into an indian tent, with a single pole in the middle. Crap, how would I explain this…? I should…
"Tenryuu?" Just be honest about it. "There`s.. a problem."
"W-what is it now, huh? Ya scared, again?" Her voice trembled, and in a way, this reassured me- she was having second thoughts about this too.
"Lets… lets just stop this silly idea, okay…? No need to wash my back, or even bathe with me…"
"We got this far, you know…! M..Man up and go all the way!" She yelled back, which started to make me fear someone might hear us and get the wrong idea. Briefly, my back touched hers – bare skin against bare skin, and blood shot straight into my crotch, making me wince. "That's not the issue here, Tenryuu…! You do know what happens when men and women tend to hang out together naked..?"
"They get incredibly awkward like we do?"
I started to chuckle, but it only helped so much. "More often than not they get turned on by the body of the other person."
"…..Oh. A-and…? Wh-whats your point?"
"That's what happened to me just now." That felt like a rock falling straight on my chest, and by face burned up. I could tell the same was the case for her, as silence was the answer for that.
"….Whatever." She finally brought out. "Its your body that's doing it, right? So… whatever. I`ll ignore it."
Wow. Just… wow. One chance to defuse this situation and instead she let the bomb blow. Was she TRYING to get into my pants or something? … I did start to get that feeling, that our friendship started to become something… deeper for her. I wasn`t sure what to think of that… she was attractive, very much so, but as far as I knew I didn´t feel anything for her… Or did i? Who knows.
"… Alright then." I muttered slightly, getting out of my boxer shorts to rid myself of the last remaining article of clothing. "I`m done. Did you think of getting some towels beforehand?"
"…" Her silence was a no. "Of course I did, stupid, why would i…" Yes, definitely a no. "….I forgot." Told you. It brought a grin to my face, and I crossed my arms, a tiny bit more confident than before.
"So how do we get in the bathtub…?" Tenryuu asked, making me chuckle even more.
"I`ll go there first, and I won`t look, then you go." Said and done, easy. The water was warm, nice, comforting, and I could feel my tense muscles relax as I closed my eyes to keep with my promise not to look… only to tense again when Tenryuu slipped in as well, in a graceful movement without splashes. My eyes opened again, and I released a breath.
"W..what now?" She interpreted that as an annoyed sigh, by the sound of things.
"Nothing. But, if you´re asking… did you plan this beforehand, that things turn out like this..?"
In response to this, I felt her jolt in the water, like a heavy duty twitch. "W-what?! All I wanted was for you to relax and relieve some stress, you were the one who agreed that I should wash your back..!"
"You suggested that, though." I gave back.
"Admiral! S-shut up…!"
A snicker later, another question came up in my head.
"Tenryuu."
"What is it now?!"
"So, whats the point of bathing together like this if we`re facing each other back to back..? You can`t wash my back like this. And if my assumption is true, then its still pointless because you can`t see me naked like this."
Oh holy crap, this was turning out to be so much fun. I could practically feel the water boil around Tenryuu from the heat of her embarrassment.
"Wh…who said I wanted to..?! …Mhm."
"You do, don`t you? I didn´t realize that, but… you didn`t… see a man naked so far, right?"
"Shut it… shut up already, i… mmm." She mumbled something I couldn`t understand.
"Huh? What was that?"
"….yeah." She did? Was that was she was saying? "Yeah. I…I was looking forward to seeing your body, okay? Now will you shut up?"
"I`m just asking, geez. Don`t be so stiff. Relax, Ten-chan."
"…There you go calling me Ten-chan again…."
I chuckled. "Its an addiction, I can´t help it. …Well. Its embarrassing to do it alone… If you turn around, too, then i´ll turn around and let you see." A daring move from me, but… somehow, the atmosphere seemed right to proceed further.
"Wha… r-really… but, uh, we can`t turn around sitting in the tub like this…"
True. "Then lets stand up and turn around, that works right? Then we get a good look, and we can sit down again and actually get some bathing done." Twisted, vile thoughts bubbled up in the depths of my mind… I never knew I was capable of thoughts like these. When she would be standing there, she`d be vulverable- without equipment, and in surprise, I could bring her down and… explore her body a bit further than just with my eyes, perhaps… if she got into it, then…
"F-fine. I`m not scared. Are you scared? Because i`m not. Lets do this. On three."
"Alright. One."
"You can still quit, ya know! ..T-two…"
"Three!"
With a splash, the two of us stood up at the same time and turned around, as if in a wild-west duel, and we instantly saw each other`s reddened faces. More so, I could see how cute Tenryuu was without her headgear, and she didn`t even wear an eyepatch, her damaged, scarred eye bare to the world- somehow, that made it even better. Still, the rest… her body was flawless, absolutely flawless- no signs of the damages she received in the past expeditions and small sorties, and her body wasn`t even on the same scale as Shiranui`s, who already took my breath away. Curves and outlines crafted by art, small details such as a mole I discovered, the lifelikeness of her nipples, stiffening up when exposed to air, water still running from the gentle curvature of her breasts and gathering in her belly button, in the middle of her taut stomach, with its small crevices of abs from her workouts... I kept expecting a blood vessel in my nose to pop, like in cheap Japanese mangas, but even when I found a glance at her southern regions, nothing happened… instead, I started to wonder if the lack of hair there was for the sake of asthetics or a budgetary decision. I ignored it, and rather took a peek at the pink that was mostly hidden by her thighs. Was she... horny too?
I could feel her gaze lingering on me as well, and it was for the better neither of us said anything as two virgins, me and Tenryuu, had first-time-contact with the other gender. A reassuring glance into her eye later, one of her hands guided itself toward my body, and I responded in the same way, reaching for her hips.
Then, one of the grates on the wall popped open, and Shiranui somehow managed to pop her head out of the ventilation shaft.
"Admiraaaal. Its Sunday. Lets go to the beach."
What followed was the display of the fastest i`ve ever seen someone jump out of a bathtub and punch a person in the face, with such force that I was sure Shiranui came out the other end of that shaft.
Chelsey Nimitz meanwhile was getting a show she didn`t expect, as Midway had asked her to come to the dock… to the factory of the DD7. There, build drones- mindless, identical husks of former shipgirls- took one of the corpses from the pile, strapping it onto a table, which was then tilted up, as machinery came from it. The dimly lit area gave this whole sight a spooky appearance, a corpse hanging from leather straps with robotic arms coming from behind it.
"Witness, the birth… of a new princess, Admiral." She cooed, her relentless eyes resting on the sight of the procedure, as circular saws attached to robotic arms came forth. "Recycle damaged tissue and components. Remove all other components. Reduce overall size by 30 percent. Reduce arms and legs by an additional 20 percent. Integrate horns into upper superstructure. Reassemble with internal armor." She commanded, her voice fast and precise, with no pauses inbetween, as the machines got moving- effecitively scrapping the former shipgirl in the restraint, taking apart bit by bit save for the head- then the circular saws got to work, literally cutting up the chassis by the requested 30 and 50 percent. Nimitz watched in both horror and silent fascination, the sawblades removing "unneeded" parts, then welding them back together and grinding them down… in the end, the chassis very much reminded of a child.
"That's hardly an effective ship design… What are you planning to do, Midway?" Nimitz muttered under her breath, still watching the spectacle unfold.
The white madwoman chuckled in response, her eyes softening with glee. "The humans have… a word for it. They call it… psychological warfare…"
While drills digged into the skull, attaching fiberglass nerves, extremely sensitive and highly sophisticated before casting them in a hardened, black texture.
"…I never actually asked, but… it looks like those horns have a purpose." Nimitz spoke up under her breath, trying to stomach the fact that she was watching… a child being born.
"They let us hear underwater…. Hear our enemies, our allies... feel every ripple of the ocean… It is akin to… what dolphins and whales use." Midway chuckled again. "Go ahead… I am sure Carrier will like it… if you touch them without asking."
"But she doesn´t have any." Nimitz responded, only to be answered by the singular shake of Midway´s head.
"She does, under that… hair she`s so proud of… they are quite tiny. I assume… she wants to compensate… for them with it." As Midway finished talking, the arms were finished with the chassis and then built the rest of the girl… while the process of adding muscles and sensory equipment was identical, the inner workings were quite different- CCU, food conversion and others were part of a singular, black-metal… root, one could call it, the CCU being a tree trunk with dozens of roots going throughout the girl. If hit, those roots could take over the function of the CCU for a while, increasing the survivability tenfold and more. The genitals were quite different as well- while seemingly identical to the shipgirl`s human analog, they contained a lot more than just sensors for pleasure… most prominently, a few dozen tiny containers of fluid, similar to the nanites flowing through the Abyssal`s physique, capable of making the one who ingested it their slave, as well as a defensive mechanism, a microscopic needle leading to a reservoir of highly toxic fluids, capable of killing a person in seconds… a feature introduced after the attempted interrogation of an Abyssal by an especially ruthless Admiral. Otherwise, the function was very similar… although advanced. Glands, small barriers and inner shapes, nubs and ripples made sure that one foolish enough to attempt and court an Abyssal would be stunned and amazed by the feeling, hopefully falling for her like the prey of a succubus.
Finally, after all this had been completed completed, the girl was wrapped in Tyberium- akin to Organium, but more resistant to water pressure at the downside of being about as heat conductant as steel, and therefore quite cold. It was a single layer rather than two seperate ones for the shipgirls, as the veins were directly worked into the material.
The procedure finished, and the long white hair of the girl flowed down her body as the robotic arms clad her in a sleeveless dress, mittens covering her hands. The straps clipped open themselves, dropping the girl onto her own feet.
"Hello! I`m Northern Ocean Princess! But you can call me Hoppo. Are you my mommy?" The girl addressed the more than wierded-out Nimitz, who instead pointed at Midway.
"N-no, I think Midway Princess here fits the description better." Upon suggesting that, however, Midway chuckled.
"Me? Have you forgotten… I was made the same way? If anything… we are sisters… distant, half sisters. Her true mother would be… our Queen, but you can be… her foster parent."
"WHAT?!" Nimitz called out, ignoring the hug she was receiving from Hoppo. "What is… are you… have you gone insane?! First you build a child to go to war with, then you make her my daughter all of the sudden..?!"
A dark glance from Midway, glowing and piercing, was enough to shut her up, however upon closer inspection, the royal madwoman was quite amused.
"I see, I see… Nazara`s plan has worked. You are… in fact, a human… the reaction you have… toward her appearance… attests it. Have you forgotten? She is… ageless, a machine, like all… of us. She simply looks… and acts like a girl."
Admiral Nimitz gritted her teeth and balled her fists, anger and shame tinting her face red.
"That is… quite an accomplishment… I wonder how we will… fare with a human in our command…"
"Hoppo`s bored. Gimme a Zero!"
Back in my office, I slowly sank down into my seat and took a deep breath, letting that whole thing wash over me for a few moments… then, I picked up the reports of the day and started to look over the current situation, while Bismarck was filing away the reports of last week.
Briefly looking over to her, I couldn´t help but paste that image i`d gotten of Tenryuu´s body on hers, but I quickly dismissed that thought. This wasn`t right to do, Bismarck had nothing to do with this… encounter, which would likely keep me awake at night. Then, I discovered something that made me chuckle a bit.
"Is there something on my face, Herr Admiral? You seem quite amused." She noticed me, but to my relief she didn`t see how I looked at her before.
"Yes. Why are you walking around on your socks?" She left her boots behind, and I had an idea why. She proved me right a second later.
"That's common courtesy in a Japanese household, is it not?"
"Yes, in a household, Bismarck. This is a naval base." I chuckled again, seeing her stare and slowly flush red at the embarrassment, being pointed out like this. I tried my best to ease her mind again.
"Don`t try and become Japanese, just because you´re here. It's fine to keep your habits and to just continue on as if nothing happened. No need to eat bauxite with chopsticks, you know, a fork does the same."
"You can eat bauxite with a fork?"
Bismarck raised an eyebrow at me, and I shrugged back. After a few seconds of staring, however, she turned aside and snickered, getting back to her work while I did mine with a grin. I should probably have lunch with them sometime, but I felt like I wouldn´t be able to look at Shiranui and Tenryuu for a while…. Then, another problem came up in my mind.
"Bismarck... you know how Musashi reacted when I greeted her, right?" I began, not looking up from my papers.
"The little U-boot told me, yes. What of it?"
Looking up, I focused on her brilliant blue eyes that looked back at me.
"Any suggestions how to solve that? She doesn´t seem very fond of me and I just… I can`t even bring up words when i`m around her. It's like her mere presence cuts off my throat."
"You are intimidated by your own subordinate, I see. That is unfortunate." Bismarck responded, pondering briefly. "However you look at it, the problem lies with you. You, as her Kommandant, should be able to give her orders despite her intimidation. This, I believe, is what caused her to have this reaction- she desires a strong leader."
"A strong leader, huh…." I muttered, looking down a bit. "I wonder if i`m the right guy for her then, if I can`t even speak up around her."
Bismarck came over and grabbed my shoulders, leaving me to look stunned into her eyes. "You –are- a great leader, Herr Admiral. I do not have a shred of doubt about it. I am alive and well thanks to your coordinated and selfless rescue operation… what you lack is self-confidence. You ARE a grand leader already, you simply need to embrace it!"
"You make it sound so easy, Bismarck… and… you`re quite.. close." I cleared my throat, nudging her shoulder to remind her that I could feel her breath whenever she talked. …smelled minty, oddly enough. Was that chewing gum?
"…O-oh. I apologize. "
"No, no, its alright Bismarck. I`ll think it over and then try to talk to her." She nodded to me, and retreated back to some distance despite me saying it was alright. …hm, her chest didn´t bounce one bit.. perhaps that chest harness acted as a bra as well.
I was turning into a pervert, I noticed that.
A/N: As you may have noticed, i failed in both delivering this chapter last week as well as meeting my goal of 9000 words. I hope you still enjoy this chapter.