Welcome back, dear reader
First of all, wow... Didn't expect that this story's followers will be doubled in that short amount of time. But still, I thanked you all for your support
And now into the review, the only review:
Ghostly
I believe the Foundation is already doing that kind of practice in acquiring their ships, buying (and maybe given) mothballed ships for the naval detachment, though it has never been mentioned in the wiki as far as I know so take it with a grain of salt. For the "turning them into Kansen" part, the foundation hasn't achieved that tech yet, with Arkhangelsk being the first of her kind in this world they need to do it manually, which means research and field tests from the very beginning.
Hope this will clear your review...
And now, to the story we go!
Russia
17th August 201X
Site-45, [REDACTED]
20:10 Local Time
Doctor Amanda Rose
For around half an hour Amanda listened to the woman, now named Arkhangelsk, telling her what happened during that fated mission. As Amanda listened in, she couldn't help to wince at the mention of Arkhangelsk's ammunition erupting, which caused the ship-turned-human in front of her to split in half.
"And that's how it went..." Arkhangelsk concluded in a somber tone.
"Well… I thanked you for telling me this information." Amanda replied. "Now, could you tell me how did you manage to find your way here?"
"Well, It's not an easy task, doctor. At first, I was awake on this beach somewhere in Northern Russia with almost zero recollection of who or what am I around two days ago. Don't want to waste my time, I decide to just walk away from the beach, hoping for something to happen. Thankfully I managed to slowly recollect my memories… remembering who and what I was… Then a couple of hours later I find myself an empty cabin, filled with the necessary supply for me to get back."
"And how did you know the cabin was unoccupied, as well as having the necessary items for you?" Amanda suspiciously asked.
"The lights were out so I presumed it was empty, and when I tried to budge the door open I… pushed it a little bit too hard…" Arkhangelsk replied with a little bit of blush forming on her cheeks.
Intriguing, it seems that Arkhangelsk is capable of showing a wide variety of emotions despite her origin. Nodding to herself, Amanda asked again.
"Hmm? How hard is this "a little bit too hard" push, if I may know?"
"…Enough to destroy the door to pieces on the first try, ma'am…"
Amanda was taken aback by the answer for a while, before regaining her composure again.
"So you're committing a break-in, property destruction, and theft, is that correct?"
"Y-Yes…" Now Arkhangelsk's head was hung low as if she was ashamed of herself, which successfully guilt-shaming Amanda. Not wanting to do that, Amanda thought quickly to resolve the problem
"Arkhangelsk, look at me." Address the interrogator to her subject, who slowly obeyed her. "You didn't need to feel guilty about it, since you did that for your survival. While yes, all of those three were illegal, you don't have the choice at the time. So now, could you cheer up for me, please?"
That brings a slight smile to Arkhangelsk's face, which somehow made her look beautiful in Amanda's eyes.
"That's more like it… Now may I know the rest of the story of your journey, please?" Amanda asked cheerfully.
"Ah, yes, of course…" Arkhangelsk clears her throat. "Anyway, from that cabin I managed to get some food, drinks, a set of new clothing, a couple of hundred Rubles, and an ID card that have the same profile picture as my appearance, which I left after an hour in there. It was around dawn when I reach a major road, which forced me to hitch a ride after waiting for a whole hour."
"Does the driver, and if there are passengers other than you, know that you're an anomalous entity."
"I don't think so. But he did ask me some questions for his safety."
"Such as?"
"What's my name, where I'm going, why I'm going there, and the like. Pretty normal question for a truck driver to ask, honestly."
"Oh, so you're hitching in a truck, was that correct?" Arkhangelsk nodded. "Then where does this truck take you with?"
"Murmansk, where I quickly dismounted from the truck upon reaching it."
"And what did you do there? And how long?"
"I arrived there at around seven in the morning. The moment I set foot in that city, I make a beeline to the nearest public transportation, which is a train station. There I bought a train ticket from Murmansk to Saint Petersburg that will depart at ten. So to pass the time, I decide to sightseeing, taking in every bit of the city before going back here."
Amanda could see Arkhangelsk's eyes shines and mouth tugged into a smile as the battlecruiser recalled her experience. She was probably having such a good time out there if Amanda could guess.
"I suppose you're having a good day in there as well, right?" Amanda smiled.
"I… yes… I was having a good time in there…" Arkhangelsk blushed again as she's trying hard not to show her embarrassment, which only made her look cute to Amanda's eyes.
"It's alright, Arkhangelsk. It was the first time you were living and breathing among the normal populace, so it was rational for you to explore, to try and experience things you haven't been able to do in your past…live?... Is that the correct term?"
Again Arkhangelsk smiled, but this time it was accompanied by a chuckle as she watched Amanda's confusion. "Yes, I suppose it is the correct term."
"Anyway... Could you detail me on what did you do during those three hours?"
"As I said earlier, I was sightseeing the city, observing how the people interacted with each other while myself just lazily taking a stroll. I think it was around eight-thirty that I started to feel hungry, so with that, I decided that some snacks will suffice my hunger."
"And what did you eat?"
"Two doughnuts, a croissant, and a cup of hot coffee. But alas those weren't sufficient, so I end up buying a regular-sized Pepperoni Pizza for myself... and some kids I befriended with back then..."
Once again Amanda was taken aback. Befriended normal humans? "Explain the last, please…"
"Well… It turns out that eating a whole box of pizza in the middle of a public place was bound to get some audience, And it was exactly that but instead of adults, I got five children watching me while salivating to themselves."
"…Do you know what are the ages of those children?..."
"Two of them were five, one is a six, another one is a seven, and lastly a toddler. Oh, and the toddler is being carried by the seven years old."
"…Please continue …"
"Seeing those kids watching me with hungry eyes, I couldn't bear myself to ignore them. Therefore, I gave them a slice each while we start conversing with each other. Then around nine, I was suddenly pulled into a basketball match by those same children, which is an awesome experience by the way, that lasted for an hour before I had to catch my train."
Amanda was at a loss for words. The woman in front of her, an honest-to-God warship reincarnate that used to be the pride of the SCP Foundation's naval detachment, had possibly become one of the nicest and friendliest SCPs out there. Seeing her interrogator unable to comprehend her story for the time being, Arkhangelsk opted to continue it.
"The train ride itself took an entire day, and by the time I arrived in Saint Petersburg, it was already nighttime. So using what is left of my "borrowed" money, I rent a hotel room for the night, having some identity crisis as I hesitated to turn myself in the morning, do some testing with my anomalous property in the afternoon, and last but not least, surrendering myself to the Foundation at dusk. And now here I am, talking with you about my wild journey." Arkhangelsk finished.
Now the room was silent, with Amanda still having difficulties processing the last bit, while Arkhangelsk's waiting for another question patiently. This would go on for around a minute or so until Arkhangelsk starts to lose her patience.
"Ehmm… Doctor Rose?... Are you alright?..." Arkhangelsk asked with a surprisingly gentle tone.
"Uhh... Yes… Yes, I'm alright. It's just… Your story is still somewhat unbelievable. Well, to me at least…," Amanda nervously laugh. "So… You said you did some testing with your anomalous property right? Could you describe to me what it is?"
"Of course, Doctor. During my testing, I found out that I could summon these metal constructs of what used to be my ship's body. My original body to be exact. An example is my bow, which when I summoned suddenly moved its position to my right side, my superstructure now rested entirely on my back, and lastly, my stern being on my left side." Explained Arkhangelsk. "To be honest though, it feels like I'm wearing an Exosuit, a big Exosuit."
Amanda nodded along. "Does this "Exosuit" includes your armaments?"
"For most of it. My CIWSs, torpedo launchers, rockets, and SAMs were all located in various spaces on that… Exosuit, but my primary missiles were somehow replaced by two kinds of grenade launcher ammo."
"Wait… what are you serious?"
"Yes, it's weird, I know. My anti-ship and anti-submarine missiles suddenly changed into two different color-coded grenade launcher ammo, with the launcher being a handheld grenade launcher. Then there's my naval gun, which turned into a Goddamn pistol out of all things…"
"So to sum it up, your primary attacking weapons were transformed into something that could be handheld, is that correct?"
"Yes."
"Is it suit to your liking?"
"I suppose so since it felt comfortable that I could move freely while using my weapon. Still, it feels weird knowing that I need to aim manually when in combat."
"Does it being a hindrance to you?"
"Not really since I was a ship first and foremost on the inside, so my firing systems still working perfectly."
Amanda nodded in understanding. It might seem like Arkhangelsk was only human from an outside perspective, but she was still a fully capable battleship on the inside. Glancing at the clock hanging on the wall to her right, Amanda saw the time was five minutes to nine. Hence the Doctor stood up, before nodding to the one-way glass behind her.
"Well, it's nice to chat with you today but it was already late, so we will be bringing you to your containment chamber now," As if on cue, the guard from earlier, who is an MTF member enters, before unlocking the chain that connects Arkhangelsk's handcuffs to the table. "Don't worry, we will take good care of you, and I will be coming along as well."
Arkhangelsk only nodded in silence while the guard stood her up, before bringing Arkhangelsk out with another guard waiting by the door. Now with the two armed guards flanking her, Arkhangelsk walked along the gray hallway of the site with Amanda in front of her.
"You know, you're surprisingly cooperative during that interrogation session, could you enlighten me on why did choose to be silent when previously being questioned Arkhangelsk?" Amanda asked as she led the group to traverse the D-class holding cells.
For a while, Arkhangelsk didn't comment, but just as Amanda glanced back she could hear the battlecruiser sighing. "If I may be honest, I've just thought they're dicks. Don't get me wrong, I know they're only doing their job, but they've got this smug aura that says "You're a nature's abomination, we're not, and so obey us" That, and there's this voice that tells me to not trust them"
Amanda was shocked. She didn't expect Arkhangelsk to be so blunt and direct, then again Arkhangelsk was unpredictable so far. Amanda stopped before fully turning to the warship direction, who also stop walking alongside the two guards. Though the first thing that surprised her was how tall Arkhangelsk is, probably reaching two meters or more, that doesn't stop Amanda to focused her gaze on Arkhangelsk
"Are you implying that the Foundation staffs were biased?" Amanda accusingly asked.
"Maybe, but don't ever think that all of the Foundation staff were like that. Prime example, my crew treated me like their own daughter before our demise. But who knows, maybe some were fanatics who believed that humanity is above all else, like some of those doughboys from that "Hammer Down" MTF"
"You know them? And what do you mean by "doughboys" ?"
"Of course I know, they're the second MTF I work with the most besides the Deep Feeders. For your second question, doughboy means infantry, knew it from those MTF Nu-7 guys since most of them were Yankees."
One of the guards snickered before being elbowed by his partner.
"Right… Though one more question, how tall are you? In meter, please…"
"I was 252 meters long when I was still a ship so that roughly translates to around one-ninety meters in this form. Maybe more maybe less but not that much."
"Still, that was pretty tall," Amanda commented as the group closed to the site's containment section.
"Yeah… wait 'till you see those American ships…" Arkhangelsk snorted.
The group then pass through multiple security checkpoints on their way to Arkhangelsk's containment chamber, with one of them requiring the battlecruiser to change her clothes to one resembling the D-class personnel, and it's safe to say that Amanda blushed red for the remainder of that procedure. With those out of the way, the group resumes their journey, until they arrive at a pretty large space where a black metal door separates the group from Arkhangelsk's containment chamber.
"Alright, here we are, your temporary containment chamber until we could build a more suitable one for you." Announced Amanda as Arkhangelsk observed the room when the door was opened.
The box-shaped room was nothing special in particular, with its size being 4*4*3 meters. The furniture was sparse, with only a single bed, a personal bathroom in the form of a one-by-one-by-three cubicle, and a set of chairs with one table. Overall, not bad for a temporary containment chamber.
"Is the glass paneling necessary?" the battlecruiser asked, jerking her head to a regular-sized window panel on the wall while her handcuffs were being opened by one of the guards.
"Oh don't worry about it, the window will only be used for further questioning and it could be darkened, so your privacy will still be yours." The doctor smiled.
Arkhangelsk nodded, before entering the room alone while a reinforced metal door is closed behind her, entrapping her inside the room.
Amanda let a tired sigh as she leaves the room, content to go home to her apartment for a good bath, eat and rest. Unfortunately for the Doctor, her job wasn't done yet, since she needed to enter a new entry on the Foundation archive for Arkhangelsk, which required Amanda to go to her office to do it. While the task load wasn't that heavy, the estimated time for her to complete it would be around midnight.
"Might as well I sleep in the office…" Amanda muttered under her breath.
Just like they said, "No rest for the wicked."