12643: Not allowed to leap out and shout "miss us?!" at Resolute.
12643a: "I looked everywhere for you two!"
12644: Also not allowed to flee from a summoning site to and I quote "finish our damned business here".
ADMIRAL COLLINGWOOD'S OFFICE
There was a knock on his door. Collingwood didn't look up from his work. "Enter." He commanded and in came Centurion. Following her were three girls. Collingwood recognized Resolute, the other two trailing close behind were unknown but he noticed how close to one another they kept. They were holding hands, even as they stepped through the doorway as though they were afraid of letting go. Seeing the impressive shiners the two girls had and the somewhat regretful look on Resolute's face, Collingwood quickly put together the pieces.
"Who started the fight?" He asked.
"She did!" All three glared at each other as if daring someone to retract their statement.
Collingwood sighed. "Okay, Resolute you stand here, you two over there."
"Sir!" At least they still had some military bearing as they shuffled to their assigned spaces.
Collingwood took in the two newcomers appearance. They had a paleness to them that made a submariner seem tropical. One girl had straight and long jet black hair and green eyes. The other was a brunette with bushy thick hair that hung around the back of her hood. Her eyes were so bright blue that if it wasn't for the relaxed stance of his other shipgirls he might've thought she was an abyssal. Unlike most of his shipgirls who were fond of revealing, scandalous clothing and that included Resolute who had a short skirt to match an otherwise professional and impeccable Royal Navy uniform. These two girls were swaddled in cold weather gear. Tan colored heavy winter jackets laced with fur and knee high waterproof boots. Their gear was very similar to some of his more northern based shipgirls.
"Explain what happened." He demanded of Centurion who sighed. "Well it started off in Canada..."
2 MONTHS EARLIER, NORTHERN CANADA
One of the inevitable problems of wartime is the excess of wartime production leading the civilian sector to cry "we want some of that". New advances in manufacturing lead to the civilian sector saying "we can take some of that, thanks". One of those efficient advances just so happened to be the tricks for summoning. So it was that a group of civvies tried their hand at it. It didn't quite go as planned. In a swirl of snow that flew from the 'portal' behind them, two girls did their best impressions of a 747 before the ultimate law of the universe known as gravity took over and the two got a mouthful of rock and sand for their efforts.
One of them leaped to her feet immediately, eyes wild as she surveyed her surroundings. She appeared almost crazed in the way she stalked up to the nearest man, grabbed him by the collar and shook him fiercely. "Where is my partner?!" She snarled.
"Ÿ̴͓́̾O̴̝̗͝Ụ̷̀ ̴̡̗̕D̷̻̃À̵̞͐R̴͚͌͝E̴̙̐̎ ̶̳̿͜B̶̨̛R̸͓̺̊Į̵͉̾̇N̵̨̿G̸̈́͌ͅ ̴̦̖̀̈́M̷͕̀Ȩ̶̨̔͐ ̴̩̋͗T̴̪̠̍͛H̴̘̖͑R̷̭͐̚O̴̯̔U̸͈̔̓G̶͙̟͋͠Ḧ̶̛̠̻́ ̴̰͌Ḁ̴̿L̸̪̣̀Ọ̷̕N̸̘͖̆Ě̵͔̲͒?̷͔̾͊͜!̴̱̊!̷̩͐́ W̸̧̦̝̙̙̜͎̙̊̈́̍̎͌͐̅͆̀̂̌̐̈́Ḩ̸̖̳̀Ë̶̯̥̮̻̟͔̹̼̲̥̰͚́͊͛̍̉̀͗̐͑̏̆̚̕͝ͅR̶̬͈̼͔̔͒̌͌͌̋́́͘̚͠͝E̵͎̭̙͔̙̭̼̎̈̈́̂́̄̏̇͛͛̀͘͝ ̷̬͇͍̮̬̳̟͚͎̤̜͈̺̬̩̆̄̔̓̌̑̿̑̀͒̕̚͠I̵̛͗̍̐͒̕͜S̵̛͎̠̐̀̀͌̾͐͂͒͐̋̏̕̚ ̸̠̫̇̈̐̆̀̎͑́̃̀̀̌̕Ȅ̶̢̬̞͇̱̦̮̳̮͚̈́́͜R̷͖͉̻̰̩̽̈́̏̅̈́̋͗͒͜ͅȨ̴̛̛̝̳̭͕̣̺̝̽͑̀̓͛͆͑͊̚͝B̵̮̟͚̝̲̥͓͍͔̍͗͑̽͒̉̽ͅǗ̴̗͔̞͇̲͈̻̹̘̹̖̞̗͒͆̆͗̓̈́S̷̠͍̺̥̦̺̼̘̝̬̫̈̓̀͌̇̏̾̀͑̊̓͜?̴̛̞̻͇̭̹̦̘͎͍̰̳̪̱̈̎̽̈̓̉̕!̴̧̨̤̥͔̞̥̝̘͕̳̟̘͗̊̅͆"̸͕͔̲̲̪̐
There was not a man present who didn't shiver at those words. Nor was there a man present who sighed and may've leaked his bladder a little in relief when a quiet but commanding voice called "I'm right here, Terror."
Terror let go of the man she was holding and leaped across the open ground to Erebus, embracing her. "I turn my back for one second and you disappear on me." She said. "Don't EVER do that again!"
"I disappeared? Who lagged behind and got herself lost, 3 TIMES IN A ROW!" Erebus smirked despite how obviously she was relishing the embrace.
"I got myself lost? Ha! Who was waiting for who in Grand Canaria for 4 days."
"I was waiting for 3 weeks!" Despite her exclamation it was clear she was doing it for fun.
"Oi that was totally your own fault."
"How was that my fault?!" Erebus nuzzled Terror's collar, earning herself a blush from the other ship.
"Erebus dear, not here. There are people watching."
"Oh? Oh dear me." Erebus extricated herself from Terror's iron grip although neither ship relinquished their hands and turned to face the crowd. Terror stepped back slightly, allowing her flagship center stage.
"Ordinarily the proper thing to do would be to make introductions but judging from the way you're staring at us I believe you already know who we are." In the chaos that followed, Erebus and Terror stealthily slipped away for other pursuits. And then they had a passage to finish traveling.
ADMIRAL COLLINGWOOD'S OFFICE, PRESENT DAY
Collingwood stared down the two offenders, hard. "So let me get this straight." He began. "The Canadians somehow manage to get their hands on a summoning chamber which produces the Erebus and Terror."
"Hello." both ships used their free hands to wave friendly at him.
"Then you two disappear into the woods."
"Oh that was a fun afternoon." Erebus sighed dreamily as she wrapped her arm around Terror who blushed.
Collingwood did not miss what was implied and held back a grimace. "And then you both vanish as though you were never summoned and the whole thing was a false alarm until you suddenly appear in Bremerton! Admiral Richardson gave you all of 2 hours on his base before he begged me, literally begged me and the rest of the British Admiralty to take in two British strays that he'd found. Do you know what kind of shit that man has to put up with? Getting him to crack like that takes uber fucking talent and no that is not a compliment ladies!" He added as Terror opened her mouth.
"Just one question before I send you to the barracks and put you on rotation." He asked.
Erebus and Terror exchanged glances before the flagship shrugged. "Fire away sir." She said.
"How does Resolute factor into this, or do I even want to know?"
Erebus opened her mouth, then closed it unsure how to answer. Thankfully her companion was more articulate. "During our travels we learned she was one of the vessels sent out to find us. And having heard of her interesting time in the states we simply had to say hello. After all anyone who can tell the President off and endure a scolding from Wreck is totally worthy of our praise!" Terror explained.
"And that would be all well and fine," Centurion said. "But instead..."
"Instead you go straight from the transport plane to the mess hall, sneak up behind me in the chow line and shout "miss us"! You're lucky I just punched you and didn't deploy my rigging!" Resolute snarled.
"I doubt it would've hurt more." Erebus grinned. "Cannonballs are kinda useless against iron plating." She pointed to her reinforced bow.
Resolute glowered at them. "I SPENT AN ENTIRE FUCKING YEAR IN THAT DAMNED ICE DRIFTING 1200 MILES! I SEARCHED EVERYWHERE FOR YOU TWO AND ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY IS 'DID YOU MISS US'?! AAAUGGHHHHH!"
"You were in for one, we were in for three." Erebus said.
"In addition, you had one thing we didn't." Terror added.
"Oh and what was that?" Resolute, still sour, grumped.
"You had an escape." The temperature seemed to drop several degrees at Erebus' statement. Resolute looked down, ashamed. Centurion sucked in a breath, seeing the haunted look in Terror's eyes. She had succumbed to the ice last after all, witnessing Erebus being crushed by the ice. And then the last of her crew die soon after.
Terror held her companion closer at that. "Admiral, send us wherever you wish. I only ask that wherever we deploy we go together."
"I'll work out the paperwork." Collingwood promised. "Centurion, escort these two the barracks. And make sure their rooms are thoroughly heated."
"There's no need for that Admiral." Erebus said as Centurion escorted them out. The sly look in her eyes was his only warning to what she said next. "We can warm ourselves plenty."
Collingwood grimaced for real this time. "And make sure wherever you put them is soundproofed." He whispered to Centurion who nodded glumly and showed the two bomb ketches the door. Resolute closed the door behind them all.
As soon as they were gone, Collingwood leaped up from his desk, opened his medicine cabinet and poured nearly half a bottle of his finest rum into a glass and promptly chugged it.