"I can't wait for the weekend," said Bremerton gleefully while stretching out her hands.

"Why, what's on the weekend?" asked Alec, walking beside her.

"This Saturday and Sunday is our annual summer event period," replied Rossiya "during peace times, the factions came together during this weekend to have fun, play games, and enjoy the summer at the beach."

"Normally we won't have it since its war time and all," added Bremerton "but James doesn't have a problem with it."

"I can't wait to try out my new swimsuit," she added with a little giggle before turning to Rossiya "what about you Miss Northern Parliament? Do you have an eye-catching number you're just dying to try out?"

"N-no, nothing at all," said Rossiya, sounding flustered "I will come as is."

"Aww that's a shame," said Bremerton "you've got a great figure underneath all those clothes so it'd be nice to show it off."

"I wonder who I'd show it off to?" asked Rossiya "I mean, the only male that will be at the event is James, and he won't look at anyone other than Akagi."

"Oh, didn't you hear? James won't be joining in this time," said Bremerton.

"Why?" asked Rossiya and Alec.

"Apparently, every event wound up with him getting caught up in some crazy activity," she elaborated "first it was a butler, then there were some hand-made clothes, and recently I believe he had to be Friedrich's pillow for the night."

"That last one doesn't sound like a bad thing," said Alec, imagining how comfortable that experience must have been.

"She broke three of his ribs by accident," said Bremerton and Alec could see that happening.

"So, on Vestal's orders, James is to start the event and then leave," continued Bremerton.

"Hmm," said Rossiya "how about Alec?"

"What? Why me?" asked Alec, stopping.

"He would be a decent substitute," said Bremerton "but we should talk this out with the others first before we move forward."

The pair then changed direction and headed to Akagi. Alec tried to call out to them to stop, but it was to no avail.

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"Commander James Harper," said an unknown voice, while looking at a picture of James dressed in his regular uniform.

"What do we know about him? He appeared during the lightning massacres alongside his fleet and a personal island. He then launched several successful campaigns against the enemy forces ending with him freeing the western seaboard from Siren control."

"He's smart, courageous, a good leader and inspires courage among his ranks," added the man, adjusting his glasses and glaring at the picture.

"But underneath that calm exterior beats the heart of an animal," he hissed.

The man, who was seated on a chair swiveled around to see his camera that had been recording him since the start.

"You see, I believe that the James we see here is not the actual James Harper, but a carefully created persona," said the man, staring intently at the camera.

"During the day, he goes about his daily missions, does his work with the necessary diligence, but at night, oh at night it's a whole other story. You see every night, our beloved Commander takes one of the girls to his room to satisfy his carnal urges."

"How do I know that?" he asked, raising his voice and pointing at James.

"Because I have proof of it," he declared to no one in the room.

"You see, when the Azur Sky freed the western seaboard, communication lines were established in order for the Human Resistance to connect with other distant groups. One such communication line was the internet. Though not the high-speed model we're used to, many of us could speak to our family, relatives and loved ones who were hiding in the free zone."

"It also allowed a juicy piece of information to leak onto the internet."

The man then loaded up an old blog post with a headline reading 'the Harem Master is at it again.'

"Now, I won't bore you with the details but suffice it to say that James does indeed take different women into his bedroom every night to satisfy his urges. There are even rumors that he takes two or three of them depending on the mood."

"And so," said the man, standing up now "I have decided to take it upon myself to confront the Commander with this news and see how he reacts. To do that, I will go where no human has gone before."

"To an island where models walk around like its no big deal," he said, imagining the scene for a moment.

"But the Commander might try to do anything possible to keep the truth from getting out and so I attached this video camera to a helmet, which I will use to capture the whole event from start to finish."

The man then proceeded to put the helmet on his head and strap it down tight. Once fastened, he went to check himself in the mirror just to make sure.

Looking at his reflection in the mirror, you could see that he was an adult in his early thirties with slightly tanned skin, a fairly lean body and a squarish face. He looked like the man that worked the 9-5 job, and only went outside the house to buy groceries.

"And before I go," he said, looking excitedly at his reflection "I want everyone to know that this scoop was brought to you by Prakash Chopra. So, if anyone finds this video, share the truth with the world."

With that said, he left his grubby room and headed outside. The summer sun was tiring to most people, but not to him. Despite spending most of his time inside the comfort of a house, Prakash had no problem being out in the sun.

Resolving himself to capture the truth, the man marched to the docks with purpose. He didn't mind the strange looks the others were giving him or how some parents moved their children away from him. None of their strange stares and gazes mattered to him. All that mattered was going to that island and seeing those beauties up close.

'Ah crap I have to focus on the objective,' thought Prakash, shaking his head and slapping his cheeks 'I'm going there to confirm the suspicions about the harem, not see all those girls.'

At that last statement, his mind began to drift. It was summer now and he imagined the girls all dressed up in swimsuits, running across a beach, playing volleyball…

'Crap, I did it again,' thought Prakash. He noticed that by now he had arrived at the docks were a rubber dingy waited for him. The resistance could not afford to spare and motors right now so he had to rely on good old muscle power.

As much as he thought the job would be easy, paddling a boat, regardless of the size was a difficult task. Simply getting into a rhythm and not letting the constant waves disrupt you was difficult enough. But nevertheless, he persevered, motivated by the opportunities that awaited him.

Prakash's reward came when he managed to finally reach the island after an intense half hour of paddling. Once on the sands, he got down and praised his good fortune for coming this far. Next, he got up and headed to the base.

It wasn't long before he reached the courtyard and the first thing he saw was a line of girls walking past him. Now, this wouldn't really interest him, but the fact that they were carrying a man tied up from neck to toe in rope and had his mouth duct taped did worry him.

Prakash noticed the man mumble, given how the tape on his mouth moved a little. On hearing this, the leader of the group turned around and marched to the man.

"Don't worry big bro," said (Unicorn) "Aulick will read you a book to keep you occupied."

At once, Aulick came forward and produced a book with many pages and opened it to the first one.

"They call me Ishmael," she said, trying to sound in character. The gesture had the intended effect as the man seemed placated and listened intently. Glad that that was over, the line of girls resumed their march, completely ignoring Prakash's presence.

As they moved further away, heading to what looked like the school, Prakash eyed the book's title. In big bold letters it read 'Moby Dick' and Prakash sighed a little. He remembered trying to read the book but the Old English kept putting him off.

"Many I feel bad for that fool," said Prakash, muttering to himself "that must be that Alec guy I hear about, the fleet's strategist. After all, there's no way in hell that Commander James Harper would get kidnapped so easily."

If only he knew how often such an event took place on the base.

Pushing the incident out of his mind, Prakash focused on the matter at hand: find the girls and maybe find the Commander.

Once again resolving to see things through to the end, Prakash marched forward.

It didn't take him long to notice that the hub area where the girls would typically walk around was strangely empty. It made no sense to him as there was no information about any mission that required every single member of the fleet.

Prakash scanned the lounge first then the café and found they were both empty. These two places were ideal locations for the girls to congregate during any day of the week. Hence, the question was, where did they go.

As he wandered through the area, he heard the sound of a female giggling ahead of him. Curious, he slowly marched forward and came to a clearing.

That was when his questions were answered.

"This… this is Nirvana," he said, on seeing the beach filled with the girls who changed from their regular outfits to something suited for the beach.

"Whoa," he said, looking at a group of girls playing volleyball, another group was building sandcastles and a third was sun bathing.

"This is bliss," he said and quickly hid behind some bushes when he heard a set of footsteps coming his way.

Because he was hunched down, Prakash could only hear their conversation.

"Did anyone see James?" asked a voice (Hornet) "once the event kicked off, he practically vanished."

"I think I saw him with the kids," said another voice (Enterprise) "I didn't think they were this serious."

"Right, find Helena, maybe we can ask her to scan the area and find him," suggested the first voice.

With that said, he heard the sound of footsteps receding. Once again, Prakash raised his head and this time he noticed how there were a few less girls on the beach than before. He noticed how there were groups forming near the tree line and wondered if that had anything to do with what he heard.

As much as he wanted to think things a little further, he once again heard more footsteps coming his way. This time though, it sounded like the girls were going to find him. Rather than risk his luck, Prakash quickly crawled away and headed back to the courtyard.

Once there, he put together his thoughts. From what he heard, it sounded like and looked like the girls were all searching for James. They split up into several groups. The fact that there were many of them still relaxing and the whole base wasn't on high alert meant that James' disappearance was nothing worrying.

Prakash was curious as to how James managed to evade the detection of so many girls for such a long time. As he pondered those thoughts, he saw an incredibly tall, raven-haired beauty with a pair of red horns, wearing a black and red skin-tight single dress walk by.

The woman let out a low chuckle and said "there, now let me and your sisters keep you safe."

The incredibly tall woman was speaking to the man tied up in rope, whom she was effortlessly carrying with one hand.

Compared to before, the man looked visibly afraid as he tried to wriggle and shake himself free. Unfortunately for him though, the woman's grip was firm and showed no signs of releasing.

The man did manage to lower the rope on his mouth and once freed he let out a strange and almost comical wail of fear.

"HELP MEEEEE," cried the man, only to have the tall woman cover his mouth again.

That was when the man noticed Prakash and mumbled to him. Prakash however, did not want the tall lady to turn her attention to him and so he bolted off in the other direction.

"I'll remember you forever Alec," muttered Prakash while running away.

Prakash continued running till he reached what looked like a school. Thinking that he'd be safe inside, Prakash put his hand on the door only to be sent flying a good distance when the door swung open with incredible force.

He saw the group of children from before, this time though they were looking incredibly angry.

"I can't believe Friedrich would try something like that," said the leader (Unicorn).

"Friedrich… crafty," said the blond twin-tailed girl next to her (Eldridge).

"Should we split up and search for big bro?" asked one of the girls (Spence).

"No, I think its better if we head to the Iron Bloods and steal him right back," shouted another girl (Charles).

The suggestion had the intended effect as the other girls all raised their fists up and cried at the same time.

"We're taking our big brother back," declared Unicorn and marched forward.

As they were headed to the courtyard, the kids (and Prakash) spotted several explosions in the distance. This was followed by an unknown object flying towards them at incredible speeds. Seeing this, the kids and Prakash all moved aside and avoided the object when it hit the ground.

The group came further and saw that the object was in fact a white-haired girl with long, flowing hair, a pair of twin tails wearing a dress with a full-sleeved grey and red dress.

"Ah Eugen," declared Z18 "give back big bro."

"Sorry little ones," said Eugen, getting up and wiping the dust off her shoulders "but I have more pressing issues to deal with."

On queue, another girl entered the location. She too was a white-haired girl like Eugen, but her hair was short, reaching only to her chin. And also, unlike Eugen, this girl was wearing a modified maid outfit with a short skirt, a low-cut top and carried a ridiculous looking broadsword.

"What the hell?" muttered Prakash, unable to comprehend these events.

"Give Master back to us," said the girl, pointing her finger at Eugen "we're not allowed to use our weapons but I will cover you in paint if you do not comply."

"Sorry Sirius," said Eugen, calming walking out of the crater "but your dear Master managed to escape our stronghold."

"What?" asked Sirius.

"What?" asked Unicorn, as she and the rest turned to Eugen

"After mom brought him to our stronghold where she could run out the clock, she went to fetch some water. Five minutes later and he's escaped."

"How our beloved Commander managed to escape from the third-floor while being tied up is beyond me," she added with a sigh "we were about to go searching for him when you and the maids raided our base."

"By the way, where's Curacao, Sheffield, and Curlew?" she asked.

"They said they had some work to do and left. Unfortunate but we can't let our games get in the way of our real duties."

"Indeed," said Eugen, assuming a fighting stance "now, are you going to let me pass or is this going to get ugly?"

"I've been instructed by Miss Belfast to take you out of the competition," said Sirius, producing several bottles of paint which she carried between her fingers "and I do believe that painting your hair in more than one color achieves that purpose."

"Whoa there," said Eugen, immediately getting wide eyed and raising her hands up "let's not get too hasty here."

"I'm sorry Eugen," said Sirius coming closer "but orders are orders."

As Eugen backed away while Sirius drew closer, the children and Prakash watched on in silence. None of them wanted to deal with paint in their hair and had no intent of intervening in this incident.

As Sirius drew closer to the target, they heard a familiar voice in the distance shouting "GET BACK HERE DAMMIT."

This was followed by the all too familiar sight of a still tied up James rolling away. Unfortunately, his escape was cut short when he was stopped by an eager looking Gangut.

"Come now comrade," said Gangut, bending to pick him up "let's get you somewhere safe."

"Oh no you don't," shouted Eugen, Sirius and the children all at once. Gangut turned around and looked surprised to see the group. Her attention quickly shifted to the odd one out.

"Hold on a second," she said, before any of the gang pounced on her "I understand why you're all here, but why is he here?"

Following that question, she pointed to something behind them. The girls turned around and saw Prakash now standing up, looking scared and confused.

"That's… that's the Commander?" he asked, pointing to James.

"Well yeah," said Eugen in a matter-of-fact way "who else would let us get away with a game of capture the flag and have him be the flag?"

"What?" asked Prakash, trying to understand what Eugen just said.

"No, before we answer, who are you and what are you doing on the island?" asked Unicorn as she and the kids turned to confront him.

"It is true that there are no scheduled meetings with members of the Human Resistance today," said Sirius "hence it begs the question as to who this intruder is?"

"Hmmm," said Eugen, tapping her chin "perhaps he's a spy."

"If that's true then he's a pretty bad one," said Aulick "I saw him watching us as we carried big bro away."

"We should tie him up," suggested Mutsuki and Prakash gasped in fear.

"Typically, I would like to hear Ms. Belfast's opinion on the matter," said Sirius, wondering aloud "but, given the circumstances, the only thing we can do right now is keep him somewhere safe till this event is over."

"I agree," said Eugen "letting an unknow galivant around the base like this is sure to cause trouble."

"Wait hold on," said Prakash, taking a few steps back, trying to reason with the girls "we don't have to do this."

"Not another step," said a commanding voice before the kids got the jump on Prakash. The group turned in the direction of that voice and saw James now untied and free.

"Hold on a second," questioned Gangut "how did you manage to escape like that?"

"Gangut, you should know by now this isn't the first time the girls kidnapped me," said James like it was the most normal thing to him.

"That aside," said James, turning to the intruder "who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I'm… I'm here to see the Commander because I have an important question to ask him," said Prakash, gulping.

"Well, I'm here so ask away."

"Huh?" asked Prakash, his mouth hanging down "you're the Commander? The badass that punched Omega in the face? The guy that eats metal and spits bullets?"

"But… but… you're so weak," he said plainly, "you get kidnapped by a bunch of kids and then you're passed around like a hot potato and you're…"

Prakash couldn't finish his sentence as he felt the temperature suddenly dip down. The reason for this is primarily the result of the girls now staring daggers at him.

"Are you making fun of big bro?" asked Unicorn, her expression grim and wary.

"Shocky," said Eldridge, holding up her pair of modified tuning forks.

"Whoa," said James immediately grabbing Eldridge's head and turning her a little so that the inevitable electric blast hit a tree instead of Prakash.

"Calm down girls," he said and they listened "there's no reason to get up in arms about what he said."

"But… but he was insulting you," said Eugen.

"That's fine. I'm not going to let it get to me and neither should the rest of you," he said, exuding a calm aura that was the polar opposite to the manic screaming mess he saw when Prakash first arrived.

"Well then, what did you want to ask me?" asked James.

"Um… well," said Prakash, digging into his pocket and taking out his phone.

"Is it true that you bring girls to your room every night to fulfill your rampant carnal fantasies?"

"WHAT?" shouted James, his voice rising several octaves higher.

"No, God no, I'm not some sex-crazed lunatic," he said, immediately lowering his voice.

"That's not what Akagi tells me," muttered Eugen to an interested Sirius.

"How do I know you're not lying?" asked Prakash, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Because I'm married," replied James, now displaying his wedding ring "happily married mind you. I would never do something so crazy like that."

"So it was a rumor?" asked Prakash, sounding disappointed.

"Of course, it was. You know, you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet," added James.

"Sorry," said Prakash lowering his head "now that I think about it, it did sound crazy."

"Also, how did you manage to slip by our defenses without alerting anyone?"

"Oh we had our eye on him ever since we saw him paddling his way over here," said a voice.

Following that sentence, a puff of smoke appeared to the left. When it vanished, it revealed Kirishima, Curacao, Curlew, Sheffield and Akatsuki.

"Do not worry master," said Curacao "we've been monitoring him since the start. The only reason we did not alert you was because he posed no threat to you or the girls."

"If he did," said Sheffield, followed by her and Kirishima brandishing their weapons "he'd be fish food by now."

Prakash visibly yelped as he leapt behind James to protect himself.

"Well, at least our island's security is intact," said James, sighing in relief "please continue what you were doing before."

The maids and ninjas nodded and used another smoke bomb to mask their escape.

"Big bro I want to learn to do that too," said Unicorn.

"When you're older," said James and turned back to Prakash.

"Now that that's over, I think it's time you head back to the base," he said "I'll take you there myself."

"EH?" shouted Eugen, Sirius, Gangut and the kids.

"But what about the game?" asked Eugen "it's almost evening."

"Fine, fine I'll have the maids and ninjas escort you back," he said and the girls agreed with that order.

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"Gentlemen," said Prakash to a dark room with a single light on him.

"Aside from my personal quest, I have uncovered undeniable proof of the holy land."

"BEHOLD," he shouted and displayed a video of his recording while on the island.

His video caused several murmurs and discussions to start around the room.

"I declare that as of this moment, we shall convene here once a week and marvel at the beauty of these ship girls," said Prakash "who's with me?"

"Wait," asked one guy in the crowd "can we also share artwork of the girls?"

"Sure," replied Prakash and the room erupted with thunderous applause.

0000000000000 Later that night 000000000000

"So that's what happened," said Belfast after hearing a summary of events from Sirius, Sheffield, Curacao, and Curlew "you all did excellent work today girls."

"Um, Miss Belfast," said Sirius "there is one thing that's been bothering me."

"What is it?" she asked, tilting her head.

"That man came to the island according to a rumor posted on the internet. So who posted that rumor in the first place?"

"Ummmm…."

(flashback)

It was three days ago and Belfast was summoned to Queen Elizabeth's room. There, she saw her Highness seated on a chair, eagerly looking at a working computer.

"Ah greetings Belfast," said Queen Elizabeth, getting off her chair on seeing the maid "thank you for coming here today."

"Your Majesty," said Belfast "why do you have a computer?"

"I want to share my musings and thoughts with the world and according to Marblehead, the best way to do that is with a blog. I would like you to teach me how to start a blog Belfast."

Worried of what Queen Elizabeth might unleash on the world, Belfast opened up a word document and typed. \queenthoughts. With that crisis averted, she watched as Queen Elizabeth began typing.

It was her ranting a little about James and then went off on a strange tangent of how he should have had a harem. Needless to say, Belfast was glad that she made the right decision.

"Now that that's done, time to save," said Queen Elizabeth moving her mouse to the save. Unfortunately, she mistook the share icon for the save, which gave her several options: share on social media, share on the internet.

Belfast was too late to stop her Highness as the latter clicked the second option.

(End flashback)

"I guess there are some mysteries we will never solve," said Belfast, laughing in an effort to bury the subject once and for all.

(AN: There was a section in Chapter 16: New Normal that i completely forgot to add till last night. It's at the end of the chapter and is an essential part of the story. Please read it)