While the girls i had met before- Tomcat, Tornado, Phantom and Thunderbolt, rushed over to the hangar and got into their suits, i took a moment to glance up into the sky- it was clear, not too warm and not too cold- perfect weather. As if it didn`t matter that i was here, they would`ve flown anyway.
At least i`d like to think that, to calm my nerves and get on a different train of thought, but someone ruined that for me already, as Lightning poked my shoulder with a grin, and pointed over to a slightly larger rig, thicker in build, with longer wingspan.
"What are you stargazing for, Shichiro? You`re going to watch us- firsthand."
"W-wait. What? You mean… inside one of those? But i`m not a-" She cut me off with a grin, as Akiha came over with a mask and an overall in her hands, looking a bit smug… as smug as that woman could get with her constantly stern face. The hand holding the cane also had a small box of… something in it, but for now she just pushed the overall and the mask in my hand.
"Put that on, unless you want to faint up there. The air pressure`s not that high at forty thousand feet, you know." Her voice made it fairly clear that I had no saying in this, and with a sigh, I nodded and resigned to my fate, as they showed me to a dressing room, in which I slid out of my all too comfortable uniform and into a somewhat tight overall in a blue color. I could only guess the color coding was relevant to the rank, or the role the person wearing it had- green for the fighters, black for the bombers, and blue for the… guests.
"Here, take one of those too. It helps against the sickness the G-forces will do to you." The small box turned out to be pills, and she handed me one… with a grimace, I swallowed it, then put on the mask… which surely made me look like a monster from a sixties horror movie, but Akiha gave it an approving glance and gestured off to the plane rig, which Lightning was opening up at this point.
A noise came from above… I peeked up, and very faintly, I could make out the outline of an Abyssal jet, its green exhausts leaving a corona in the sky. …that wasn`t a target drone, was it? No one was airborne yet.
…that was not good.
"Akiha!" I called over, but she didn`t hear me- reluctantly, I went back to Lightning and the others to warn them at least.
"Whats with the yelling, Shichiro?" She asked, tilting her head in a cute manner, but I had no eyes for that in the moment.
"A recon plane of the Abyss..! I saw it just now, flying overhead!"
Tornado rolled her eyes, then crossed her arms while glancing at me.
"Its probably one of the target drones they started pre-maturely. Don´t get your panties into a bunch, naval guy."
"Think first, then open your mouth." Phantom responded in a harsh, but cold tone. "Why would they start a single drone before any of us is airborne? We need a minute or two to get stable. The naval guy has a point."
"We should stay aground, then. Just to be safe." Tomcat suggested, but I didn`t think that was a good idea. They needed victories- they wouldn´t get any by avoiding fights like this.
"Rather than that, load live ammo into your guns and go up there- that single plane isn`t going to be alone if it spots us down here, you know. Warships or fighter planes- both have the same basic purpose. Protect their home. You`d fail at that task if you would let this place get bombed."
The five stared at me for a few seconds, Lightning especially, before Thunderbolt grinned wide and slammed her little fist into her palm. "Hell yes! Lets get up there and show them what we`re made of!"
"I suppose this is what we trained for." Phantom agreed, nodding a single time.
"It is, yeah. Lets grab some ammo and some missiles… and you, Thunderbolt, you put on some bombs, too, then we`ll blow up whoever sent that plane up." Tomcat gave off, in a rare display of enthusiasm.
Lightning seemed like she was about to facepalm, but then she was just smiling with a hint of disappointment. "Alright then, i`ll get into my regular rig. Get into shelter with Miss Yamamoto, and-"
For a split second I considered that, getting into safety and letting her handle it. But that look of disappointment told me she really, really wanted to fly with me… and damn it, it might be fun afterall.
I grinned at her, and gave the big plane rig a pat. "I already swallowed that awful pill, Lightning. I`ll fly with you no matter what."
"But… that's a real combat mission now, not just a drill… you might be killed, you know."
What else was new. I could get killed every day. This job came with danger, and i`ve been looking it in the eye more than once by now. I gave her a nod. "Yeah. But I can try and help to make sure you aren't. Just get in, and tell me what to do."
Meanwhile, a few miles away from our position, Admiral Nimitz and Aircraft Carrier Demon seemed satisfied as their recon flight returned, reporting a clear signal for the first bombing raid.
With a sign of her hand, Carrier ordered the ships submerged at the shore to raise- four Wo-class carriers, and two brand new Ra-class heavy carriers- Abyssals lying flat down on the water, fitted with rigs the size of the Carrier demon`s own, each one carrying five of the new Shi-class heavy bombers- formerly destroyers, they were refurbished into girls that resembled a mechanical, bizarre rendition of an eagle, carrying large bombs and a pair of miniguns each, a cluster five regular jet engines used by the Abyssal planes, mounted on each leg, gave them the thrust needed to take off. Their "beaks" were made of a hardened material, capable of piercing through a tank during a nosedive, which made them useable for suicide attacks, and while their heavier bodies meant less mobility and speed, the smaller planes from the Wo-classes would protect them in the case of resistance.
"Recon reports clear weather and no enemy activity. Seems like the perfect conditions for a test run." Carrier said to her superior, who nodded to her with crossed arms.
"Yes. Proceed as planned- a wave of standard fighters, then the first Shi-class group, followed by another wave of fighters to guard their backs- and repeat that with the other group. First group targets the hangar, the second targets the bigger house." Nimitz commanded, looking ahead to the faint outline of the airbase.
"Aye-aye. …If only Airfield Princess could see this, she`d be so mad." Carrier responded with a smirk, and gave another hand signal, followed by a mutter of words unable to be understand by humans- the maws of the Wo-class carrier decks then opened, extending a catapult each, before firing off jet fighters, one after another, until a total of five were in the air- then, the Ra-class on the left side brought their attack bombers into the sky, and the Wo`s followed up with more planes of their own. Getting into formation, they headed straight for Henderson…
With the other four girls being locked into catapult-like contraptions, I was the last one left behind- Lightning had taken her place, lying down in the plane rig and holding onto controls and handlebars, before giving a light nod. "Your turn."
"Mine? .. where`s the second sea- wait, I have to lie down on top of you?"
She nodded again. "That's the idea."
"You can`t be serious…" I moaned a bit, but eventually succumbed to my fate, climbing inside and lying down… it was comfortable, all the spaces for my limbs were there, I could reach the handlebars alright- if only I wasn`t tightly pressed against Lightnings back, it would be quite alright. That, and the feeling of claustrophobia that hit me as soon as the lid closed, and bolts clicked into place.
"Alright, we´re locked in. Switching to auxiliary air supply." She responded, and all of the sudden, I got fresh air blown into my mask in gentle puffs. "Air supply ready. Fuel linkage established… I have control. Turning on display."
"Woah!" Next, the seemingly standard pressure mask I wore lit up from the inside, and on a thin layered LCD screen, it displayed the inside of the hangar, as an HUD came up in the corners of my sight, and crosshairs, labeled "No weapon selected" appeared in the middle. "Do you see that too?"
"Don`t have to. I feel it." I could hear her grinning, and it didn`t take a genius to imagine she enjoyed this whole situation. No wonder she wanted to do this so bad, her butt was quite firmly pressed against my crotch, and I imagine under acceleration this would get a whole lot worse. I had no time to think about that, though, as the roof of the hangar was pulled away, the catapult extended, and the entire plane, us included, was pointed almost 90 degrees up to the sky.
"Is that normal…?" I asked with a bit of hesitation.
"Yep. In the next ten seconds we`ll be fired off with nearly 200 kilometers an hour. Then the engines kick in, and we soar off into the sky." Lightning explained, not making me feel any better. That sounded quite like a brutal kick-off, and my suspicions turned out to be quite true.
From one second to another, I felt like someone punched me in the back as the whole rig suddenly catapulted forward, pressing me closer to Lightning than I ever wanted to- Okay, that was a lie, I was starting to enjoy being close to her, but the G-forces practically crushing me was not fun. As I got a bearing of myself, we were already above ground, seventy meters in fact, according to my HUD, and I panicked for a second before my pilot chuckled.
"Relax, Shichiro. I got things under control." A whining noise passed by, and I could feel a blasting force firing out the exhausts. The engines were on now, and my arms began to move along with the wings of the plane, as we turned over into a horizontal position.
"….Wow." I brought out, seeing the view from up there, the tiny buildings underneath, the endless blue we were about to dive into.
"…And that's why I love being a planegirl." Lightning commented softly, doing a few gentle maneuvers to make sure everything worked right. In the distance, our radar picked up the first hostiles, but she seemed to take her time…
"Lightning. Fifteen… no, thirty hostiles approaching our position, they`re splitting up into groups…"
"Don`t you worry about it!" Tomcats voice came from the radio, and from underneath us her plane suddenly came up, a few puffs of smoke and some thumping noises later, tracer rounds soared through the sky and cut one of the Abyssal jets into pieces. That's when they spread out, attempting to circle us.
"Tomcat, you fucking idiot…!" Lightning bursted out, pulling a harsh curve to the left which made my fingers grow numb from the forces. "Now the element of surprise is gone!"
"Shooting clay traps out of the sky is no fun, Light! We have them outnumbered anyways, by a hundred!"
"Tch." She grumbled, pulling the plane straight again. "Shichiro, this is going to get rough and hard, I hope you`re prepared. In a fight like this, I can´t stop and turn over just because you`re sick."
"Don´t worry about it, turn around, we`ve got one on our tail." I commented, not seeing anything, but I could hear an engine approaching.
"Wai… oh shit, you`re right." What shook me next was a barrel roll, as bullets fizzed through the sky and missed us, scratching the paintjob a few times, before Lightning suddenly pulled a J-turn out of nowhere, attacking one of the jets with a burst from our main gun.
"Admiral..! I`m receiving report… that our fighters are… being attacked!" Carrier gave off, turning her head to Nimitz quickly. "It appears… those planegirls can start… faster than we expected."
"Let them. We`ve got more than enough to put a stop to this… start the rest of the jets, Wo-class." The Admiral looked over to the leading Wo, which nodded a single time with a determined "Wo." Coming from its mouth, before reaching her arm out ahead- once again its carrier deck opened, and planes poured out of it in droves, this time, not stopping at just five.
"Don´t bother with the little ones, Lightning- they`re just protecting the big ones." By the time I told her this, it became more and more obvious just how little value the regular planes had, as a seemingly endless amount of them came from the coast.
"Shit…! While you`re here, Shichiro, make yourself useful. There`s a button and a trigger on each of your handlebars- the button engages the target lock-on, the trigger fires a missile. I`ll handle the main gun." She just said that so lightly, as if I had been doing that all my life, and before I knew it the aforementioned trigger swung out from the previously smooth handle.
"H-how do you expect me to handle this…?! I never fired rockets before!"
I could hear her snicker.
"Its simple, just point and fire. The warheads guidance will take care of the rest." She made it sound so easy, but I suppose it was due to the whole seeking missile thing. But that would only work with a lock-on, and while she was racing around at eight hundred kilometers an hour, dodging enemy fire…!
Then I noticed something, a pattern emerging in their movements. Those bombers were nothing like we`d ever seen before, and judging from their armament they were extremely dangerous, but…
I took my chance. Without waiting for the lock-on, I pulled the trigger as soon as the aircraft was in the right position, left of the nearest bomber- at that time, a rotating rig, holding twelve small missiles emerged from the belly of the aircraft and launched a single one, which soared straight ahead. As Tomcat engaged it, it flew off to the left, as predicted- and detonated violently, the large bombs they carried racking up the force into a chain reaction.
"Wha..?! You.. you didn`t even aim! And with the first shot too! What kind of luck do you have, dammit?!" Lightning complained, pulling over harshly to avoid an engaging group of smaller fighters, which were then taken out by Tomcats main gun.
"I noticed they always fly off to the left when they avoid something. So I fired one to the left just as Tomcat was about to target it." I explained, starting to feel a bit nauseous from the constant movement of my surroundings… she really wasn´t kidding about how rough this was.
"Ah…! Kinda like with the Zeros, huh? Alright…! Lightning, calling everyone- the big bombers always dodge to the left! Try to make use of that!"
A plinking noise caught my ear, and I shuddered at the thought of what it was- Lightning didn´t seem disturbed by it, and the plane seemed to work fine, but… without armor plating, I didn`t feel very safe with vehicles that were being shot at.
"Phantom here. Caught one- Target locked. Firing lance one." Not much of a talker, was she. Still, the resulting explosion was quite nice to look at… what wasn`t nice was to see one of the bombers drop their payload.
"Lightning…! They´re dropping bombs on the barracks…!"
"Keep your shirt on. I`ve seen it."
My stomatch then went into a direction I didn`t want it to go as we went for a nosedive, our 20mm autocannons making short work of the bombs in midair, before she pulled the plane… or rather, herself, back up, where the bomber was caught in a dive-attack of Tornado. Seven of them were left, and three dozen fighters… My trigger finger twitched off another rocket, but rather than catching the bomber I had aimed for, it hit a fighter head-on and brought five of them that were closeby to the ground.
"This is one hell of a training drill…!" It came from Thunderbolt, the slowest one- but also the most powerful, as I was about to find out. A short burst from her main gun made the airplane stall in midair as the breeze of bullets cut a line through the enemy aircraft, destroying the enemy bomber they were hiding. They weren´t using their gatling guns at all… perhaps they weren`t meant to be used in dogfighting.
"…Admiral Yamamoto… Come in, Admiral." It came from my headset, and I nearly fired off a rocket at the surprise of it. That was…
"Musashi?! Whats going on?"
The noise of machinery, mainly electric motors and elevators was heard in the background. "Tenryuu and I have made contact with a number of enemy carriers, roughly fourty miles from your current position. Tenryuu says that the human with them is their commander… permission to engage?"
Human… that woman from before, she meant. Gritting my teeth, I nodded slowly.
"Granted. Focus fire on the carriers, though. We need to stop them at the source. ..Lightning, pull over."
"What?!" It bursted from her, baffled. "We can´t leave the fight now!"
"We won`t. Forty miles from here, the carriers are defenselessly waiting for their planes to return… the planegirl airforce needs some good results, so lets blow them up while we can!"
That was a bold plan, afterall, that woman could have things in store I was not even remotely aware of, we were in a slow, two seater training jet, and we were up against a multitude of abyssal ships… but to hell with it, I wasn´t going to let this go.
Lightning seemed to agree with me.
"…Yeah. Lets do it. Everyone, we`re pulling away from the battle for now and attack the carriers themselves instead! Thunderbolt, you want in on this?"
"Sounds like a job for me, alright." Thunderbolt responded with an audible grin. "Don´t wait for me though, get them while they`re hot."
For the next five minutes, an awkward silence hung over the cockpit, and I knew why- tension. This was her first live combat mission and my first flight in these blasted planegirl rigs. In either case, we were on the edge of our seats… seats that didn`t exist. And there was another thing, which I only noticed when she gave off an amused chuckle.
"Feeling comfortable back there?"
"Depends, really. Why do you ask?"
"Because I don`t remember you bringing a gun into my rig."
Oh. Seems like the G-forces tugging me left and right caused my groin to… rub against her butt, and naturally, my body reacted to that quite well.
"Eh… well, sorry, I can`t help that." I tried to explain it this way, but she just laughed a bit more.
"Is that so? Well, as long as it doesn`t distract you –too- much, Shichiro~"
"You are pretty distracting, Lightning, I give you that. But i`ll manage."
Of course, a lot of different thoughts came up in my head when she said it like this, and with this much body contact it was hard to imagine she wasn`t thinking alike. But before I could come to anything like asking her out, the coast came into sight, and anti aircraft guns were pointed at us.
What I could only assume to be a barrel roll at mach speeds pulled me over violently, tossing me against the side of the cockpit, as explosions happened left and right of us, and Lightning flew another violent maneuver.
"Damn, they found us right away…!" She cursed, and after pulling the plane into a straight again, she plunged right down to the sea to give off a gun-salvo against the nearest Wo-class.
That sight- seeing it obliterated by armor-piercing, and high explosive shells… it briefly made me shudder. It was if I could feel her eyes staring at me while her body was being torn into bits. …however, the sight of the Admiral, glaring red eyes at us was something that shook me more, and it didn`t take a second for me start lining up my sights with her.
Just as the trigger was pressed, though, Lightning yanked the plane around to avoid enemy fire, and it instead crashed into the rig the woman was standing on, which started to sink… or rather, submerge, by the looks of things. "Gh…! Damn, she`s getting away…!"
"No can do, Shichiro, one of those shells hitting us would be the end of this trip. Focus on the rest of them." Lightning gave back, and I nodded slightly to myself, as a beep sounded in my ears. "Whats that…?"
"It's a warning, we`ve exceeded 35 minutes, more than half the air supply. This wasn`t meant to be a long flight, you know. Don`t worry though, we`ve got about… 30 percent fuel left, and your pill should last for another hour."
"I don`t think i´d be concerned about getting sick when I suffocate, Lightning!"
Another jerk to the side, and a few shells popping out of our guns followed. "If the tank is empty, take off the mask, you`d have about 15 minutes more by breathing in whats inside the cockpit. After that… well, I won`t let it come to that." Good to hear she was concerned about me, but that anti aircraft fire… we won´t be able to escape it forever.
"Musashi, Tenryuu, come in. Where are you?"
A thunderous booming sound, repeated eight times in short succession, followed, and two Wo-class carriers were sunk by a barrage of 46cm shells, tearing them into scrap metal with ease.
"Musashi is right here! Do not worry. …Moreover, where are you, Admiral?"
"Above you. That jet fighter trying to survive the AA gun fire. I trust you can do something about that…?"
"In the airpla-?" Musashi seemed to be quite taken aback by this, understandably so. "Very well, I will. Stay alive, Admiral." It sounded as if she was going to add something, but didn`t have the guts, or if she was too prideful to say that. Still, telling me to stay alive was a subtle hint that she cared about me at least a little.
"The planes are coming back!" Lightning yelped as a few plinking noises rang from the back end of the plane, forcing her to turn up and under. "Now we`re getting sandwiched…!"
"No you wont, keep your panties on…!" A sweep of Thunderbolt later, the ten enemy fighters engaging us were falling into the ocean- that cannon of hers was quite something, and after she had gotten rid of her bomb payload, one of the heavily armed Ra-class carriers broke apart and sank to the ground, damaged beyond repair. I was about to engage one of the Wo`s next, but… Tenryuu beat me to it.
She leaped out of the water (Which I didn`t even know shipgirls could do) to ram that machete-like sword of hers into the chest of the first Wo-class, twisting it around to aim her turrets at the other one- her two 20,3 cm dual turrets blew the carrier deck straight off of the Abyssal, only to be greeted by the stick of the first Wo hitting Tenryuu in the face. Ow.
I could see Musashi, that massive thing down in the ocean, helping her out with a secondary gun salvo which sank the carrier that hit her… the other one sank to the bottom of the sea, but so slowly, I wasn`t sure if she was actually defeated.
A chill ran down my spine.
She was looking up, at me, that Wo, and kept staring until after her eyes vanished in the water.
This sight lingered in my mind for a few minutes, but then I had to turn my attention away- as Lightning flew low for a final attack on the last Ra-class carrier.
Its AA guns pointed up at us, and in return, the main gun rattled a crescendo of violence- I lined up my sights, and fired the last few rockets in our arsenal at the steel behemoth…. Musashi`s second volley of shells did the rest, but…
..something rocked our aircraft, and we were slanting over to the side, a whirring noise coming from the back.
"Lightning?!"
"Left engine is offline, lost all power. I`m shutting off the right one so we can stabilize."
Said and done, she slowly rolled the aircraft back over, the whirring noise gone, but also the humming of the engines. We were gliding, but we could only do so for so long, and I did start to notice a lack of oxygen in my tank…
"…crud, the tailplane`s stuck, I can`t turn around. Guess we´ll have to land instead of splashing down." Lightning commented, as calm as if it was just another day on the grind.
I was not so calm, especially as I felt nothing came out of the airhose anymore. Hectically, I pulled my arms up and unhooked it, breathing in the musky, sweat filled air of the cockpit in deep intakes.
"L-lightning…!"
"We`ll be down there in five minutes or less." She wasn`t kidding. I could see the coast approaching fast, and behind the sandy beach came lush vegetation… the problem being that under those tropical trees wasn´t grass or undergrowth, but ruins of hotels and tourist traps which would be very hard to land on. Seems like Lightning was aware, and steered over where the trees cleared up… then a crack, and a ripping sound occurred, and we dropped.
"C-crap! That was the damaged tailplane…!" I could feel her pull a lever, a hissing noise inflating the raft under us- likely to dampen the impact, but in the end of it all, she yanked out another lever to blow the lid, and eject us out. The force of the wind hit me like a punch in the guts, while Lightning tightly wrapped her arms around me and brought us down- we were below parachuting height, and thus she turned onto her back to break the fall for me… still, I felt the impact on the green below me, and went out cold.
Birds chirping in the trees- a distant noise I only knew from television programs… gentle hands cupping my face, something soft and warm wrapping around my nose and… blowing air inside, making me choke and sputter as soon as my consciousness came back in full.
"G—gh..!" I pushed Lightning off, coughing a bit. "Wh... mouth to mouth, damn you, not mouth to nose…!"
"But that's what I learned in first aid class." Huffing a bit, she sat back, crossing her arms in a pout, allowing me to take a look around… the crashed plane was next to us, more or less intact aside from the obvious hit from the AA gun shell and the missing top half. It stopped against a large tree, which we were sitting under… the sun was starting to set, and we were very much alone.
"…thank you for pulling me out of there, Lightning." I began, trying to break the ice before it formed.
"…Well, you were above me, so it was either that or kicking you out." Slowly a smile formed on her face again, and she looked back to me. "Still, that was a pretty bad way to say 'Thank you for saving my life' just now!"
"Thank you for saving my life, I really appreciate it. My nostrils feel very clean now."
"Not that either, dammit!" She started to laugh, and her fist hit my shoulder with a bump, pushing me over a bit- I didn`t resist, just laid back, letting things pass over me and the adrenalin rush fade.
Grinning, Lightning came up to my side, lying down as well, watching me relax- then, she poked my cheek to get my attention.
"Hey, don´t doze off again. I`d be all alone here."
Ah, that would be bad, huh. With a grin, I rolled over to face her and poked back.
"So? Just take a nap with me."
"Don`t wanna. When the rescue team arrives, you`ll be going back to your fleet, and i`ll be depraved of the best wingman i`ve ever had." Ah, so that's what she was going for.
"I`ll be your wingman anytime, Light. Just call me." Her face fell a bit… did I say something bad?
"…I`m not sure i´ll still be around then, you know. Miss Yamamoto probably didn`t tell you, but…we planegirls don`t last very long. Brand new technology, you know… accidents happen all the time, and if we`re getting into real combat now, causality rates will skyrocket."
The light hearted, almost romantic feeling passed, and was left with dread, the fear of loss, and bleak feelings… this might be the last time I see this cheerful, curious girl. War was hell, but until now I didn`t really think about that.
"Not if you give your best out there, and make sure to come back alive. I`ll promise to come visit you whenever I can… your commander is my sister, afterall."
"Don´t make a girl a promise if you know you can´t keep it. You have your own duties and obligations."
A smirk crossed my lips. "I`ll make room in my schedule for you."
"Am I worth that much to be squeezed inbetween meeting politicians and fighting battles?"
"You`re worth a lot more, Lightning. No matter how many planegirls are out there and how many are being built, there´s only one of you. Don´t make light of yourself. Fight to survive, and for those who care about you and you`ll come back alive everytime."
She raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Isn`t that a nice way of saying 'fight for me'…?"
I felt her hand clench around the upper part of my overall, trembling a bit… so I reached over, cupped her shoulder, and pulled her close into an embrace.
"Maybe for me, but for Akiha too, and your fellow planegirls. They might not say it, but they`d miss you… just like you would miss them. Just think of all the people who would miss you- and tell yourself that you have to come back, for their sake."
"Shichiro…" She brought out, gazing up to me. "…shut up, I get it. Don´t waste this moment with bad feelings. I want to have fun, like we had up there."
It wasn´t that much fun for me but- I was unable to respond, as the next thing that happened were her lips pushing against mine, sealing them with pink wet velvet.
It took me a few moments to react to this, but… it felt nice, it felt.. right, and afterall, I had already found out Lightning was just as attractive as the shipgirls to me. Still, she was wild, much more so than I expected- her hands ran down my overall, feeling up the outlines of my body underneath while we exchanged ever more fierce kisses- my first one had happened moments ago, but it was forgotten quite fast with the more and more out of control situation.
Out of control was my mind, as well. Logic had turned itself off, I forgot of possible consequences regarding to this affair, and of my duties as a commander of shipgirls- which this girl was not.
My body did what it wanted, and I couldn`t resist…
Some time when I had been distracted, her fingers slipped over the zipper of my suit, bringing it down, before her left hand slid inside to cup and feel around on my chest and sides. Her featherlight touches tickled, leaving shivers down my spine, but it was nothing compared to the sensation that hit me when our tongues met up and played with one another. I actually had to give off a moan from the feeling alone, it was intense and alien- my tongue felt on fire in the best way possible, and sensations kept running down my body- straight down the back to the groin.
"Fuaa.." She breathed in, breaking the kiss for a moment to tug down my suit more, her hand reaching further down…. I tried to muster up the willpower to stop her, but her dexterous fingers wrapped around my trembling shaft in a manner that made my head spin. At first she clamped down on it too hard, being inexperienced, but hell, it was almost… cute, seeing her try out new things with me there.
"Not so… hard.. its not a flight stick, Light.." I reminded her with a mutter, only to lean up and kiss the bit of her neck that was exposed, going up to nibble on her ear, making her squeak in a cute manner. I reached around her, feeling down her well-built back, but as I was nearing her butt she started moving down, which made my hands ride back up- it was then that I noticed my sleeves were missing, she had already pulled them down to strip me further of my overall.
"Nngh?!" Looking down, I saw the reason why- she`d gone ahead and exposed my length, twitching and trembling for attention as it was, to the world and was currently nibbling along its side, her right hand caressing it with her silky fingertips, driving me even more crazy than I already was. "Light… h-how long until the rescue team arrives?"
"Mmh… a while. I didn´t call for one yet." She answered, giving me a cocky grin while beginning to jerk her hand up and down, working me off. If she kept this up, I might not last as long as I hoped for my first time, so… I came up with a daring plan, and sat up to look at her.
"Then maybe you should stop playing around down there and let me make you feel good, too."
"Sounds like a plan..!"
Admittedly, this wasn´t my first time seeing a girl naked- Shiranui and Tenryuu had already taken that prized rank away from her. Still, it was my first time undressing one, and feeling her up- close up.
Lightnings pale skin tasted salty, it was warm, moist, like she had been through a serious workout- maybe she did, I didn´t know how exhausting it was to fly this plane, but I made sure to relax her again, working my fingers over the muscles and crevices of her back, undoing tense spots, massaging her while gradually moving down her body, stripping her of the overall that hid the rest of the girl from me. Little gasps and mewls, ripples of her breath told me what she felt, and her shivers whenever I reached a good spot gave me a clear direction to go.. I loved the squeal she gave off when my tongue reached her belly button and licked it, or the soft hum when my lips pulled on her left nipple. Drawing lines and circles on her back with my middle finger, I reached down her body with my mouth, further and further until my hands touched her soft and yet firm buttocks, holding onto the spot where the legs ended and her butt began, gently spreading them a bit. I could tell she was getting flustered, and tried her best not to close up again, but I wasn´t going to stop here- if she tasted this good above, I needed a taste of what she was like below.
A squeal, followed by a purring hum, was the answer to my tongue caressing her amazingly soft, silky folds that gave off a thick, syrupy fluid that I greedily collected and swallowed. That was a unique taste- salty, a bit fishy, and something between sweet and bitter… I needed to investigate this further, and collect more, much to her delight, as I felt her kick off the rest of the overall and wrap her legs around my shoulders, leaning back joyfully.
I watched her body writhe and arch along with the movements of my tongue, and I was so involved I didn´t notice it right away when her left leg went down… only when her foot briefly touched my neglected manhood.
"H-hey… Shichiro… don´t waste too much time on that, i… i´d like to give you my first~" She mewled, softly, under her breath… I was almost afraid I was taking advantage of the girl, that I would use her affections for my own lusts but… I couldn`t deny something was there, thumping inside me. If it was love or instinctive, carnal desire, I didn`t know, but I gave her a nod, moved back up and kissed her…
It took a few tries, I have to admit, to line myself up at the right angle and slip inside, but it was well worth the effort- Seeing her face distort in extasy, feeling her hot, slippery cavern contract around my length…First I felt something pop, like thin sheet spread out, then ripping- her hymen, most likely-, but then shortly after I grinned as her eyes widened when the tip touched the barrier to her womb, just barely, letting her know just how far I was inside her… the rest was instinct, my hips moved on their own, my mouth giving off grunts and deep huffs as our bodies entangled and lustfully grinded against one another… feeling adventurous, she actually got up on her fours and beckoned me to take her from behind, but I felt her body tense and shiver as soon as I entered, gripping her soft rump with a bit more force, and mere minutes later, she gave off a mewl in a cute voice, her body climaxing around my length.
…that's when I knew I didn´t have to hold on anymore, and let myself go, filling her with my seed while gently biting her neck like a puppy.
To our greatest fortune, we did dress ourselves properly in time before the rescue party arrived, a truck which loaded the broken rig onto its back, and a few paramedics which looked me over for a few minutes… next to the truck, I could see Tenryuu and Musashi standing by, waiting for me to be released, but I could tell this might take a while so I gestured them over.
"Hey, you two… nice work out there." While Musashi`s performance had been breathtaking, Tenryuu was the one who deserved more praise- afterall, a light cruiser fighting a standard carrier and winning was not an everyday occurance, but Musashi was built to sink big ships.
"Yeah yeah, its no big thing." The purple haired one gave back, crossing her arms behind her head. "So, you hurt or something?"
Musashi said nothing.
"No, i`m fine. I`ll be going home with you guys as soon as they release me… and after I said goodbye to my sister." I grinned back at them, but Tenryuu only nodded slightly. She seemed a bit… pale, and Musashi kept switching which leg she was resting on, nervously. "…whats with you guys?"
"We saw your plane fall out of the sky and crash, and nobody could tell us if you were alive or not. This was not only reckless and unnecessary, but quite a grave mistake to make for a leader such as you, Admiral!" Musashi finally spoke up, glancing at me disapprovingly. Uh oh. This was… quite the stern look, even more so than what she used to look like. I suppose she had a point, but…
"We`re at war, it's not like it's unreasonable to die in battle. …Still, thanks for the concern, I gue-"
She turned around and left, and Tenryuu watched after her, before shrugging her shoulders with a sigh.
"Well, there she goes. But oi, didn´t take you for an adrenalin junkie."
"I have good reasons for doing that, Tenryuu, and I don`t think I'll do it again either." At least not in the near future, because just thinking back to that flight, now that the pills stopped working, made my knees shake. "This was a one-time thing, to help the planegirls get off the ground as a member of the airforce. …Seems like Musashi isn`t going to listen to that, though…"
Saying goodbye was brief, but much more heartfelt than the greeting was. Akiha reached her hand out to me, after a serious scolding for doing things on my own, getting her girls and myself in danger. As I took that hand, though, she let go of her cane for a brief moment to wrap an arm around me, giving an embrace, and quietly, very quietly thanking me for the good work.
The planegirls saluted in front of me, some of them grinning at the behavior of their commander, Lightning grinning quite knowingly for a whole different reason, and I returned the favor with a promise to them all i´d be visiting again soon.
How soon, I didn´t know, but I had a feeling this would not be the last time we`d cross paths.
Compared to this, coming home almost felt cold at first, Bismarck and the others simply stood still and saluted, some of them nervous, while Musashi went off on her own, without saying a word.
"Welcome home, Kommandant. I see you are well, that is good." Bismarck addressed me, and I nodded in return, dismissing the rest of the fleet.
"Yes, barely. I had an encounter with the Abyssals, but… I survived, that's the main thing. How is the fleet doing?"
She swallowed hard, and looked aside. "Well… We are doing good, ja. But… how shall I put this… I may have made a mistake."
"A mistake? We all make those, Bismarck. No need to worry too much. …what did you do?" I asked her in a calm and gentle voice, resting my hand on her shoulder to make her relax a bit. It didn`t help much, she twitched in response to it.
"There… there was an option I had not yet seen, called Large Ship Constru-"
"Oh fucking hell." I groaned, and seconds later, a squeak I had never heard from Musashi before was voiced.
"Ah-aaahh?!" Looking over to her, I discovered a destroyer popping her head out from underneath her skirt, where she had been… rather interested in what Musashi wore underneath. The grey haired girl had a rather interesting hairstyle, but otherwise seemed like nothing special.
"Yes! Its me, Battleship Kiyoshimo!" ….Somehow, I felt like going back to Akiha. There was no way that little girl, which barely reached my chest, was a battleship. Still, the way she hugged Musashi`s legs amused me to no end, and the Yamato-class´s efforts to shake her off added to that effect.
"Is that all, Bismarck? Because honestly, I don`t mind if she`s the result of that LSC. Just going to have to give the fairies a scolding."
"Ah, well… our resources, they have been… depleted." Bismarck clenched her eyes shut and prepared to be yelled at, and the entire room went silent, but I simply nodded in return. I had expected that sooner or later…. Not this early, and not for that reason, but I made my mind up about it.
"Okay. Contact the resource division then, and order a stock of thousand units each, i`ll pick out my bank account details for you for the transaction." The german`s face nearly fell apart completely, and Musashi`s glasses dropped off her nose.
"But… but sir?! That's.. that's YOUR money, for a mistake I made…!" I gave her a smile, tucked the cap off her head and patted her blonde head a few times.
"So what? Everyone makes mistakes, and I didn`t exactly explain you what that option is… so its my fault too. I don´t need the money I earn from this job, not as much as the fleet does right now. Use it without hesitation."
Bismarck`s reddened cheeks were briefly tainted with tears, but she wiped them away as quickly as they appeared, and put her cap back on, snatching it away. "Y-yes…" With this, she hurried off without waiting for my dismissal, not wanting to lose her tough act like this.
In truth, this was an easy decision after the lessons I had learned today… my parents, my grandparents and my brother were gone. But I wasn`t alone… the shipgirls around me, that supported me and depended on me… they could be called a family too. My family. For them, I would gladly spend what I earned from naval command- if they smiled in return, then it was well spent.
Later that day, after I had taken a shower and changed into a new uniform, I was working late in the office- I couldn`t find sleep in this bed of mine, for one reason or another. On the other hand, turning and twisting around for six or seven hours wouldn`t make a whole lot of sense if I would be dead tired the next day either way, so I decided to get up, and get working on some of the paperwork that I would be missing on the next day, when my body gave out and i´d be sleeping on the job.
I was able to do that for about an hour, before someone decided to come check on me… someone I hadn`t been expecting.
"Admiral. What are you doing." Musashi asked, raising an eyebrow at me. Her face, despite having hints of anger on it, showed genuine concern.
"I can`t sleep, Musashi. So I might as well work some more."
"That's not good for you." Was her response, and her hand pinned mine, which was holding a pen at the moment, down on the table with restrictive force.
"Didn`t think you`d care. You looked like you were back to hating me when we were rescued earlier." I commented, ignoring her glance about it. "Or did you ever stop hating me in the first place?"
"I never –started- hating you, Admiral. But when you´re being this unreasonable, reckless and intolerant toward your coworkers, I can´t help but be disappointed in your performance as our leader."
"I told you I had a reason for doing this." I grunted, looking up at her directly. "The planegirls were about to be disbanded, unless they´d have some military record soon. Akiha wouldn`t have let them move out like this, so I took it upon me to give them something for that record."
"That wasn`t your job. Your job would have been to motivate their commander, not to jump in a plane with one of them despite having no idea how to fly a plane!" Musashi bellowed back, clutching my hand tighter.
"Are you lecturing me how to do my job now, or are you just jealous that I was fighting along the planegirls instead of fighting along you?!"
Her hand was painfully gripping mine now, and I could see her teeth being bared- this was about to escalate, as I could tell…
"…Don´t be ridiculous. You´re our commander. You have no place in the battlefield, but here." Musashi seemed to calm down a bit, letting go of my hand. "As long as you don´t forget that, you`re going to stay alive."
"…so that was what you were worried about, that I might die." It did make sense in context. Musashi´s military period was late in the war, where kamikaze bombers became common and planes started to sink battleships like her with ease. It was less jealousy, but fear for airplanes that she had.
"….yes. Yes, I was worried you´d die. And I wasn´t far off, because you crashed in the middle of nowhere."
"I`m sorry, Musashi." That got her attention. I suddenly apologized, taking her out of the rant she was going on about.
"What?!"
"I`m sorry. I should`ve considered how you feel about it. Afterall, I could`ve died, and then this base would be disbanded. I´ll be more careful, more considerate about it next time."
The tanned battleship stared at me incredulously, rosy cheeks and an open mouth telling me just how much I had caught her off guard. It took several seconds, but eventually she closed her mouth, turned around and began to walk off again.
"Don`t work for too long."
"Musashi, wait." I called after her, and stood up. "Wait. Don´t go yet. What did you actually come here for?"
"This Musashi, you´re confusing her." There she went again, talking in this high and mighty third person speech, looking back over her shoulder at me.
"You came here for a reason, and not to lecture me like that. What did you want?"
Caught off guard once more, Musashi blinked, and took a few seconds before she turned back around, looking away from me.
"….I was going to ask if, since you`re still awake, you`d watch another movie with me."
A slight grin appeared on my face.
"Might as well. Its not like i´ll get a lot of work done in this sleepy state."
So in the end of the day, there we were again just like before, sitting in the hobby room together, watching a documentary of the war in the Leyte Gulf from beginning to end. It was the standard stuff, nothing I hadn´t heard of before, with some still pictures of Musashi and Yamato taken from afar, and a few CGI scene showing the battles of them… but a single mention got my attention.
Prior to her last battle, Musashi was used to transfer the urn containing the ashes of the fallen Admiral Yamamoto to its final resting place.
…suddenly it all became clear to me why she was so dead scared.
She already lost someone with my name in the past, and had been close to losing another one…
The difference was that she never knew my ancestor, but we had spent some time together now, got a bit familiar… I shouldn`t have been so careless. What did I research her history for to make such a dense mistake?!
Reaching over to her hand, I grasped it gently and held it as that scene passed by, and after some bashfulness passed by, she held mine as well, and we remained like this for the rest of the movie…
…which both of us never saw, because even Musashi fell asleep with how boring it was.