Rule by ijnfleetadmiral
15000. Actions have consequences. Make of that what you will. (Even though in some very special cases it will go in one ear and out the other…)
Light carrier Wright was worried. Moskva hadn't been feeling like herself for the past few days...she'd been lethargic and sick to her stomach, which was especially weird because it usually took a lot for a shipgirl to get sick. And she knew it wasn't 'I have a hangover sick' because the Russian cruiser was practically a member of the CM Punk Straight-Edge Society; the strongest thing Moskva drank was usually a Smirnoff Ice (she loved the Grape and Green Apple flavors). So this definitely warranted a visit to the repair yard.
"I must say, you ladies are fortunate I'm over here at the moment and not back in Portsmouth," Britannic mused as he drew some blood from Moskva, who whimpered and turned her head away. "There, there, my dear," the liner-turned-doctor soothed, "only a tiny pinprick and it's all over."
"Yes, we're very fortunate," Wright agreed. "You just happened to be here in Norfolk when we needed you. Couldn't have anything to do with the fact that a certain aircraft carrier with the number '8' was recently reassigned here."
"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about, Miss Wright," Britannic ignored the implications of Wright's statement. "I was merely referring to the ongoing saga of Miss Vulcan being mistaken for a walking medical source."
Wright rolled her eyes. "We can't help it if Solace and Comfort were assigned to Pearl Harbor and San Diego." She smirked. "Solace is the hospital ship in San Diego and Vestal is still being asked about medical stuff."
"Yes, I can see where that would be distressing," Britannic nodded as he started running tests on the blood vials. He stopped. "Ah…I believe I might have found the reason for Miss Moskva's mysterious malady; I only need to run one final test to make sure." He handed Moskva a sample cup. "If you would, please, Miss Moskva, I need a urine specimen."
The Russian cruiser blushed and meekly went into a nearby restroom while Britannic studied Wright.
"What?" the Secretary ship looked uncomfortable. "Is there something wrong with my uniform?"
"No, not at all," Britannic waved off Wright's concern. "A theory just popped into my mind, is all. I apologize if it's any inconvenience, Miss Wright, but might you give me a blood sample as well? I would like to check something, if I may."
Wright blinked in surprise at the odd, extremely random request, but shrugged and offered her right arm. "Sure, Doc…whatever you need."
Britannic finished drawing Wright's blood as a still-blushing Moskva came out of the bathroom and handed the hospital ship the sample cup.
"Thank you, my dear, you are all finished." Britannic opened a cabinet and took out a large jar of Tootsie Roll Pops. "Take a few for being such a good patient."
Wright suppressed the urge to squeal at how adorable Moskva looked as she selected her treats. The Russian cruiser was a gorgeous woman, but she was childlike in so many ways. It was one of the reasons the American carrier had fallen hard for her.
"Now, Miss Wright, if you'll give me the same sample as Miss Moskva just did, I believe I'll have everything I need to confirm my theory." Britannic held out a sample cup to Wright, and the light carrier headed into the bathroom after confirming her girlfriend – who was happily enjoying a cherry-flavored Tootsie Pop – would be all right if Wright left her alone for a few minutes.
Fifteen minutes later, Britannic sat back from his medical instruments with a nod of satisfaction. "There! My theory has been confirmed!"
"What theory is that, Doc?" Wright glanced up from the paperwork she'd brought with her. With Briggs still 'on vacation', she was currently in command at Norfolk so her work never ended.
Come to think of it, the same could've been said for her work when she was Secretary, too…
Britannic turned to Moskva. "Congratulations, Miss Moskva…you're pregnant!"
Wright could practically hear the sounds of her girlfriend's brain going to 'full crash stop' as the Russian cruiser froze.
On Moskva's bridge, Captain 1st Rank Kuprin was on the phone with the Chief Engineer, who was screaming about how safety valves were blowing left and right and that he was not someone named Scotty and was unable to change the laws of physics.
"Sh-she's pregnant?!" Wright stuttered.
Britannic cleared his throat awkwardly, a sign of someone about to bring up a delicate subject. "Well, ah, I heard about certain…video footage, if you will, and, well…"
Moskva blushed nuclear and Wright groaned and put her head in her hands. "Not this again…"
"I realize it's a delicate subject," Britannic acknowledged, "but I'm pretty sure that's how it happened." He smiled. "I'm also fairly certain that's how it happened with you, too."
"How what happened with me?" Wright had no clue what Britannic was talking about.
"How you got pregnant as well," Britannic responded.
Aboard Wright, chaos reigned as boilers redlined and safety valves sprung. All Wright could do was stare blankly.
"What."
"You're pregnant as well, Miss Wright," Britannic smiled. "It would appear that your mutual love for one another resulted in the two of you conceiving at the same time. You'll go through the journey of childbearing together! It's absolutely fascinating that this happened…yet another surprising thing about shipgirls, no?"
"What." Wright's train of thought was ready to depart the station with a full load of passengers, but the conductor was drunk off his ass, the fireman was late for work, and the engineer was locked in the bathroom at a bar five blocks away.
On the bridge, Captain Bratten sighed and sent a message to Captain Norman aboard Saipan, telling him to alert his shipgirl that her sister and Moskva needed help ASAP.
Though – in retrospect – he probably should've worded it better.
~~~
Portland sighed and tried to concentrate on her paperwork even as her girlfriend attempted to distract her. Saipan lounged on the couch nearby, her barely-there shorts showing off her long legs enticingly, and gave the cruiser a mischievous grin.
"Is it your break time yet?" the carrier purred, and she giggled when Portland shifted in her seat.
"You know I can't take a break until Wright returns to the office," Portland ground out.
Saipan was going to reply with a very naughty rejoinder when Captain Norman alerted her to the message from Captain Bratten:
Wright and Moskva have received some very surprising news. They need family around them at this time.
The carrier sprang to her feet.
"Gotta go, babe…I'll be back later." She leaned down and kissed Portland with lots of tongue and promise, leaving the cruiser a panting mess and inwardly cursing the fact that Saipan had managed to ruin yet another pair of panties.
~~~
It was a quiet day in the workshop attached to Phoenix's lab. A few minor experiments were being run, but since Admiral Briggs was 'on vacation' it didn't seem right to run a big project. His input – usually in the form of screaming and repeatedly asking God why – was quite valuable, according to Phoenix and SoDak.
So when Saipan burst into the office, claiming to need help, it was all hands on deck. 'All hands' meant all four members of what had been unofficially dubbed the Chaos Quartet: Phoenix, SoDak, and the two 'Research Assistants', Sparky and Oak Ridge.
"I need help!" the carrier announced, explaining the message she'd received.
"Well, the first step was admitting it," Phoenix stated, "so congrats on that."
"Not funny," Saipan growled. "But no, seriously, I need help…Wright and Moskva are in trouble and need their families."
~~~
"Huh…" As soon as Saipan started talking about families, Sparky was on her phone doing research. She reached over and tapped Oak Ridge on the shoulder, who saw what she was looking at and nodded, motioning the 'Electric Lunatic' to follow her.
"C'mon…we're gonna help that poor girl out, and Briggs ain't around to scream at us."
"Ehehe!" Sparky gave the facility girl a thumbs-up and her trademark insanity-tinged grin as they headed out of the room.
~~~
"So what're you doing here talking to us?" Phoenix wondered. "Go to her!"
"It's not just me!" Saipan reiterated. "Moskva also needs her family with her! So I was kinda hoping you could use the summoning chamber to well…y'know…?" she trailed off, the implication evident.
SoDak shook her head. "It's not possible to summon shipgirls whose hulls are still in existence."
Saipan blinked in confusion. "But what about Connie and Vicky?"
"Connie and Vicky are both over 200 years old!" Phoenix replied. "They self-summoned! And plus," she added. "It's not like they're still in front-line service!"
"But…" Saipan trailed off helplessly, stuck as to how to help Moskva.
It was at that moment that Ukraine's national anthem began blaring at full volume through speakers in another room.
"What the hell?" Phoenix and SoDak glanced around in confusion before noting that both their 'Lab Assistants' had gone missing.
And there was only one place in the lab that had speakers big enough to make that much noise.
The pair of Science!Girls looked at each other, stricken.
"Oh, noooo!" they chorused, and ran out of the room. Saipan followed, completely lost but not one to miss out on a bit of chaos.
~~~
Britannic glanced over at the two shipgirls sitting on the couch in his office. Wright was comforting a near-catatonic Moskva, who still didn't know that her girlfriend was pregnant as well.
And I dread telling her, the liner thought. Poor girl, she's already been through so much in such a short span of time, hearing news like that might very well break her.
A knock at his office door brought Britannic out of his thoughts.
"Yes?"
The door opened and Saipan walked in, followed by another shipgirl. Judging by the way the unknown girl was looking around with almost childlike wonder, Britannic guessed she was newly summoned and Saipan had been elected to show her around.
"Ah, Saipan…good. I realize you're showing a new shipgirl around, but perhaps you could spare a few moments for your sister? She's received some rather startling news."
"Yeah, I know…her Captain sent mine a message, but they didn't say what the news was."
Wright appeared to finally notice her elder sister was there.
"Hey," she smiled weakly at Saipan.
"What's up?" Saipan walked over to the couch and knelt by her sister. "All I've been told is you and your girlfriend here received some surprising news and then you both retreated into la-la land."
Wright blushed and hugged Moskva. "Moskva's pregnant."
Saipan's eyes widened. "She's pregnant?"
Wright nodded as the missile cruiser mommy-to-be whimpered pitifully.
Saipan then proceeded on to even bigger news…for her, anyways.
"I'm gonna be an auntie?!"
Wright nodded, smiling through tears. "Twice over. I'm knocked up, too."
Saipan squealed and grabbed both Wright and Moskva in a viselike hug. "EEEEEEE!"
"M-Moskva?" the unknown shipgirl asked, looking around.
Saipan stopped celebrating and turned to her. "Oops, sorry! Yeah, this is my sister ship Wright, and her girlfriend Moskva. She used to be named Slava."
The unknown girl's eyes filled with tears and she ran over to the couch, kneeling beside the Russian cruiser.
Moskva turned and looked at the girl. She was average height, with her blonde hair in twin pigtails done up by a royal blue ribbon.
"T-Ty Moskva (Y-You are Moskva)?" The unknown girl looked beseechingly at the Russian cruiser. Moskva couldn't help but feel sorry for her, especially as she was apparently a fellow Russian ship.
"Da, ya. I vy (Yes, I am. And you are)?" Moskva replied.
Tears streamed down the unknown girl's face.
"Kreyser Proyekta 1164 Atlant Komsomolets (Project 1164 Atlant class cruiser Komsomolets)," she replied. "Takzhe izvestnyy Ukraina (Also known as Ukraina)," she added hesitantly.
Moskva froze. Komsomolets…the sister her other sisters rarely spoke of. Especially since the whole mess with Ukraine got started. She knew that Ustinov and Varyag would be unable to come be with her during her pregnancy as both were still serving warships, so other than Wright, Moskva didn't really have any family.
But now…
Before anyone could say anything, Moskva grabbed Ukraina in a tight hug.
"Moya sestra (My sister)!" she exclaimed, beyond happy.
That appeared to be the straw that broke the camel's back, for Ukraina dissolved into floods of happy tears.
"I love happy endings," Saipan smiled. Wright was inclined to agree.
