Since leaving San Diego, Apocrypha hadn't seen much of Mobile - a combination of being too absorbed in exploring the ship after Mobile had given her free rein and Mobile splitting herself between managing the ship and making the most of her free time to laze about. They'd eaten well the first couple of days since Mobile had managed to collect some groceries that would last a short while for some decent meals, but after that it had all come down to a few nonperishable snacks and the standard naval rations. Even though Mobile explained that for the shipgirls eating was more a luxury and something to seem human, Apocrypha still worried that she had stopped eating after the good food ran out. Or maybe it was because no longer having those meals meant Mobile wasn't sitting down to eat with her now and that worried her that she'd somehow offended the light cruiser. Unfounded, but a nagging thought nonetheless.
Apocrypha let out a quiet sigh, watching shapes take form and become clearer as the ship approached Charleston's port. She heard footsteps behind her, looking over her shoulder to see Mobile having just come up on the deck. The silver-haired cruiser let out a yawn, stretching her arms overhead before leaning herself on the railing of the bow as if ready to fall asleep again right there.
"Well, mission accomplished. Pretty sure we beat the Royals here and won't have to listen to her lecturing about being late and making her wait," Mobile said.
Apocrypha furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Who do you mean?"
"You'll see. I don't want to ruin the surprise. Well, more accurately, don't wanna scare you off."
Apocrypha decided not to press the subject, turning her gaze back to the port and letting silence engulf them on the ship. They docked without incident, Mobile guiding Apocrypha off the ship but still holding on once they'd disembarked. "Since we're early, we're gonna check in and then go grab a bite to eat. I'm starving."
"You said you don't need to eat and didn't eat this whole time. *Now* you're hungry?"
"What? I don't like those crappy MRE things. 'Sides, gives you a chance to check out the town. We don't get down this way too much - little too close to Bermuda for everyone's liking unless it's out of necessity. But it beats throwing you in the deep end."
"Right…"
When they returned to the base, the pair were greeted by the sight of three more warships docking. From what little she knew just by comparing to Mobile, she could pinpoint one as a light cruiser, while she hazarded a guess of the other two being battleships. Though she found herself second-guessing one, the guns seemed oddly small for a battleship, but too big compared to the light cruisers. Not to mention, Mobile had pointed out once that usually the KAN-SEN would equip their rigging to travel rather than keeping the full ship manifested.
A woman who appeared to be dressed as a maid disembarked first from the light cruiser, another woman - a regally dressed blonde - disembarking shortly thereafter from the larger battleship. It took a while for the third member of the small party to make her appearance, met halfway down the gangplank by the maid. The pair shared a short exchange, the third woman apparently declining some sort of help from the maid but Apocrypha couldn't make out the conversation.
Walking down the gangplank, they were joined by the blonde and approached Apocrypha and Mobile and stopped a few feet away. The maid curtsied deeply, giving the pair a beaming smile. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Commander. I am the Royal Navy's Head Maid, Belfast. I do hope there was no trouble on your journey here?"
"Ah… No, everything was fine," Apocrypha answered, trying not to trip over her own words. "Uh… Those are battleships who came with you, right?"
Beside her, Mobile snorted, quickly raising a hand to her mouth to try and contain her laughter. Across from them, the red-haired woman of the newly-arrived trio sighed. She wasn't amused, nor was she trying at all to hide her lack of faith in the obvious lack of any knowledge held by this new commander.
"Bless your heart," she muttered quietly. Louder, though, she introduced herself, "While I'm flattered to be mistaken for a battleship, you'd be incorrect. I'm a heavy cruiser - Northampton-class, CA-31 Augusta. I serve as the Eagle Union's delegate to the Royal Navy and act as one of their flagships in the Atlantic. Though you are correct in guessing Warspite as a battleship."
Mobile rolled her eyes dramatically at Augusta's response, casually patting Apocrypha's head as if in reassurance. "Y'know, Augusta, you can just say 'fuck you' like the rest of us normal people do. You've spent too long around those stuffy Royals."
"I wouldn't say there's anything 'normal' about Task Force 58. So I'll have to decline on mirroring any sort of behavior from your lot."
"Just… Please. Stop," Apocrypha asked quietly, looking between the pair nervously. "I'm sorry for offending you, Augusta. I know I don't know a lot yet and I shouldn't have assumed your ship type. Mobile's already explained what happens for a lot of cruisers and that it's a sore spot -"
Augusta raised a hand to stop her. "It's no big deal. I have bigger priorities than worrying about whether or not I'm some sort of celebrity just for doing my job. There's no need for you to apologize."
"Miss Augusta, we still need to report our arrival," Belfast stated.
"Ah, right. Just give me another moment, Belfast. I'll catch up to you and Warspite shortly."
Belfast curtsied before walking away with Warspite, leaving Augusta alone with Mobile and Apocrypha. Augusta took a moment to more closely scrutinize the pair now, wrinkling her nose in disgust when she noticed the obnoxiously large piercing Mobile wore, but making no comment. Mobile wasn't her concern, anyway. She again focused on Apocrypha, noticing how the would-be Commander seemed to shrink under her gaze. "What is your name?"
"She doesn't -"
"I wasn't asking you, Mobile."
"Apocrypha," the Commander stated. "You can call me Apocrypha."
Augusta arched a brow inquisitively, but didn't question the statement. "Very well then, Apocrypha. I will compile some options and we'll discuss selecting the final members of the assembled training fleet here tomorrow morning."
Without another word, Augusta walked away in the same direction Belfast and Warspite had already gone, Apocrypha watching until she could no longer see her. She flinched when Mobile squeezed her shoulder, looking at her worriedly. "I really screwed up by misidentifying her ship, didn't I…? God, she probably hates me and thinks I'm totally incapable."
Mobile laughed, shaking her head. "She's a little leery since we've been through a number of Commander candidates, but she doesn't beat around the bush. If she thought you weren't worth the effort, she would have said so to your face. Right now, she's one of the closest things we've got to a leader, and she's a bit arrogant, but you can trust her," she reassured. "But she's right. We should get settled in. Starting tomorrow, it's going to be crunch time to get you ready. Holler if you need anything."
Apocrypha let out a long yawn as Mobile dragged her toward the mess hall. "It's not even 5 in the morning yet," she complained. "Mobile, come on. Just one more hour of sleep. Please?"
Mobile shook her head, continuing to pull her along despite her protests. "If I had the authority, I'd go for it, trust me. But a word of advice - don't try to argue with Augusta. She's a hardass, don't get me wrong, but she's one of the reasons we've managed to keep any semblance of organization all this time. You can learn a lot from her if you let her show you."
"Ugh…"
Apocrypha reluctantly silenced her complaints, following Mobile into the dining space and soon spotted Augusta, once again accompanied by Belfast and Warspite, the trio apparently discussing something over their breakfast and tea. It didn't take long for Augusta to take notice of her presence, too, and she waved for Apocrypha and Mobile to join the group at the table. Apocrypha shared a look with Mobile, unsure if they were meant to accept the invitation. "Um…"
Mobile nodded, already heading for the table. "Bel's cooking is way better than just grabbing the stuff they serve the regulars."
It didn't take long from the time they sat down to having plates of food and cups of tea set in front of them by the white-haired maid. Mobile wrinkled her nose at the tea, but Apocrypha already spoke up before she could make any remark about it. "Thank you, Belfast. You really didn't need to worry about making breakfast for us, though."
"Oh, no, it's my duty and pleasure. Please think nothing of it and enjoy."
Apocrypha gave her a thankful smile before looking over at Augusta - and the stacks of papers with her. "You waved us over. Is there something you need?"
Augusta slid one of the stacks across the table to Apocrypha. "Take a look at those. Given we're in a hurry to get you settled into the command seat, we'll need you to select the last two ships of your training fleet. I've taken the liberty of preparing a list and information on Eagle Union's currently available aircraft carriers to select from."
Apocrypha picked up the papers, thumbing through curiously while she picked at her food. "Enterprise. Hornet. Yorktown. Lexington. …Uh-huh. I recognize a lot of these, but uh… Question, if you don't mind?"
"Ask away," Augusta said.
"Is this the full list?" Apocrypha asked. "I know Mobile and I saw Midway in San Diego, but I don't see her anywhere on the list."
Augusta shook her head in a no. "I thought you might be more comfortable choosing from well-known ships that anyone would already be familiar with. As for Midway, well… If you have a way to get her here in time to run exercises, then by all means."
"What do you mean?"
"Midway is, to put it simply, very labor- and resource-intensive to move, which is why she's not used actively in fleets unless deemed absolutely necessary," Augusta explained. "Her ship is too large to pass through the Panama Canal, and whether it's using the ship or her riggings, she requires a massive amount of oil and food. Then there's the fact that she goes nowhere without a personal escort fleet, which we would have to arrange to get her and bring her here. To make a long story short, Naval HQ would never consider asking her to move solely for a crash-course training exercise like this even if it wouldn't take longer to get her here than the training will even last."
"Basically," Mobile interjected, rolling her eyes, "Midway is the big deal of big deals. If we're all sharks and minnows, Midway's one of the biggest damn sharks we got out there, and no one short of the top brass has authority to move her. Ain't no winning this war if we gotta move her."
Apocrypha blinked in surprise, thinking back on how casually Mobile had thrown insults - and the bird - at Midway back in San Diego. "I… see. Is she the only one missing from this list, then?"
Augusta sighed, handing over the second stack of papers. "No. Here's the rest, but honestly they're all generally no-names by comparison, so I don't know why you would bother when the big names are more predictable."
Apocrypha took the papers, looking through the second stack and pulling out a couple of the pages, setting them down in front of her. "These two. Franklin and Bismarck Sea. What can you tell me about them?"
Mobile seemed to instantly perk up at the first name, but Augusta gave her a glance that stopped her in her tracks. Augusta looked to Apocrypha again, scrutinizing her closely. "They were recently damaged during an operation. They're just coming off of repairs, so by technicality they're available, but they haven't gone through any exercises to make sure everything's working properly. I really wouldn't -"
"You were sent back from the Royal Isles due to engine troubles," Belfast interrupted to remind Augusta. "If you're still fit to participate in exercises, I daresay that two who have just undergone fresh repairs are just as viable options."
Augusta sighed, wanting but unable to argue with Belfast's point, as much as she hated to admit that at the moment she herself was not in top form. "Right… Well then. I'm not so familiar with the Pacific girls, but anything pertinent should be on those papers. Franklin is a member of Task Force 58 like Mobile, and one of their flagships. She has, in my opinion, some of the worst luck though. Which has a tendency to rub off on those around her."
"It's not her fault if she gets targeted every time," Mobile defended, frowning deeply. "Franklin works her ass off as much as Enterprise does."
"I never said she doesn't."
"Okay, enough!" Apocrypha snapped. "You two need to stop arguing, please. And what about Bismarck Sea?"
"Nothing really notable about her," Augusta answered, shrugging. "A lot of experience, but she's not a standout by any means. Just consistently average."
Apocrypha nodded along, humming to herself as she thought before giving her final answer. "I'll stand by the decision, then. Franklin and Bismarck Sea will join as the training fleet's carriers. Now then, another question. Warspite."
"Yes?"
"Did you forget to put pants on this morning? I didn't want to say anything, but, uh…"
Warspite flushed, gaping as she tried to find words, but rescued by Augusta standing up and speaking. "Breakfast is over. Let's get to work."
