Tanya sipped happily, grinning widely. It had been far too long since she'd been separated from this drink. It made the long day of watching speeches and standing guard worth it, even if it had taken them at least ten minutes to find a good bar far away from the part of Hamborg that had been cordoned off for the Unity Celebration.
"I know you said you don't care, but I really do think you're going to regret drinking that, Lieutenant."
"Weiss, I'm not your superior anymore, so there's no need to call me by rank," she chided, "Regardless, you've drank too much beer if you think a little thing like the time of day can separate me from Visha's coffee."
Weiss grumbled as he had his back slapped in the well-lit interior of the higher-end bar the five of them had decided to drink in. The staff had been flummoxed at Tanya's insistence that Viktoriya make her ordered coffee – or even that she was drinking coffee at eight in the evening – but they'd nearly fallen over themselves when they'd recognized her face from the newspapers and her voice from the radio.
At least there was some upside to wearing that fucking dress.
Neumann and Koenig were just as deep in their cups as Weiss, though Koenig held his alcohol better than them. Viktoriya hadn't touched her glass yet, staring down at it with a slightly sullen look on her face.
Tanya took another swing of Visha's coffee – she had to figure out what she did to make it taste as good as it did, just in case they got separated again – and cast an inquiring look at the young woman. "So. What have you been up to lately?"
The other three answered Tanya's question.
She was least envious of Neumann and Koenig. They, along with Grantz, were training up reinforced Aerial Mage Battalions of their own, all styled after the 203rd, which was now being led by Teyanen.
Least envious did not mean she didn't wish she was still in command of the 203rd. Sure, it would represent a step down from her leadership of the Salamander Kampfgruppe, but at least she had a better idea of what she was doing.
"Well, tell him that I hope being a higher ranked officer will help with his recurring food poisoning problems," she said with a smile. They laughed at her dry request – she had eaten the same food they'd had to, barring the occasional coffee from Viktoriya.
Tanya was more envious of Viktoriya. Oh, it wasn't the most stimulating job in the world, being the guard of the Emperor, but the pay had to be good to ensure his bodyguards wouldn't kill him for a bribe.
Viktoriya seemed to hate the job, and she mused that the lack of a war to fight didn't mean the 203rd wasn't made up of warhounds.
But most of all, Tanya was truly jealous of Weiss. He was one of the highest ranking members of the newly created Mage Force, which meant a large paycheck and absolutely no chance he would ever have to see the frontline again. She should have his job, or at least be working with him.
Instead, she's got to manage a port full of walking dress-code violations and sexual-harassment cases in the making.
As Weiss finished up regaling her with how he'd begun to convince the others assigned to the mage force of the validity of Tanya's ideas about mage force structure, she glanced forlornly at Viktoriya's untouched wine.
"Visha, if you wouldn't mind, could I please have a sip of your-"
"No."
She looked up from her drink and gave Tanya the stink eye while finally taking a sip of it. The other three gave her similar looks, and she sighed. She should have ordered them to let her have a drink when she was still their superior, damn the consequences.
The conversation was muted for only a moment – the atmosphere of the officer's bar they were in wasn't even close to the rowdiness of the bar's they'd hopped through in the east, but spirits were both relatively high and infectious – and then Koenig glanced around conspiratorially. "Well, we were all at the celebration. What do you think of the other nations? They seem… different. Especially their names."
Once again, Tanya felt a flutter of relief in her chest that they went by the names she was familiar with in her first life – she didn't have any desire to memorize a third set of appellations for identical countries.
She'd been given enough odd looks for her turns of phrase and 'misspeaking' to last her a lifetime.
"Bah, you know I'm not one for stuff like that," Neumann replied with a shake of his head. "What does it matter that they're names are different? We're soldiers; we shoot where we're told to shoot. Who cares-"
"With an attitude like that, you aren't likely to rise about being a Major," Tanya snapped. Neumann winced, as if she had any power to actually enforce whatever threats she implied.
"Well, then what about you, Lieutenant?"
"Firstly, you don't need to call me by my rank, especially since we're off the clock at the moment. Secondly, you asked the question, so what do you think?" Tanya replied.
All four gave her a deadpan stare. "Referring to you as anything besides your rank would feel…"
"Yeah, that would be…"
"I don't think…"
They all trailed off with a shudder, and Tanya rolled her eyes and gave Koenig a pointed look. His smile was nervous as he answered. "Well, the Allies are filled with mirrors of our enemies, while Germany at least seems familiar."
The other three nodded hesitantly, and Tanya didn't manage to stop herself from frowning. The others all stared at her in surprise, and Tanya was caught for a moment, between her knowledge of the Empire's eventual defeat and the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis, and her need to keep herself in the good graces of her carefully cultivated human resources.
She would need to navigate this carefully.
"Well, it's obvious that the Empire should align with Azur Lane broadly, but with the Americans specifically."
They were stunned into silence, and Tanya fought the urge to lick her lips. Had the rest of the bar gone quiet, or was that just her?
It was probably just her, and Viktoriya spoke first. "Tanya? Aren't they our-"
Tanya narrowed her eyes dangerously, and none of them spoke, giving Tanya moments to gather her thoughts.
"Regardless of whether they resemble the countries we are more familiar with, they are not them. This world has a similar, but distinctly different history, judging by what the papers say. The Empire has a unique opportunity to forge alliances and make connections unburdened by any history of conflict. It would be foolish for the Empire to use its perceptions and preconceived notions to blind itself to the truth of its situation."
"More than that…"
She whispered, something she rarely did.
"We were not going to win the war."
They all flinched, shocked into silence. They remained that way-
"Lieutenant, how could-"
Weiss spoke back first. She retorted.
"Weiss. The Empire was garrisoning huge swaths of land, fighting a land war in Africa and Russy, and utterly failing to hurt the Commonwealth. The Kampfgruppe didn't get new soldiers and supplies for a month when we made it to the Don."
"The national governments would have picked up the slack! If we'd just beaten the Albish and cut off their-"
"How? How could the Empire have possibly managed that while doing everything else it did? Without dragging in the Americans?"
"They wouldn't have-"
"They would. We know they would, because they did here. They were bankrolling and trading with the Albish – regardless of whether it was sinking their ships or a hamfisted attempt to weaken them closer to home or twisted moral justifications or just their bottom line, they would have found a reason to intervene eventually."
Weiss stopped, his head slumped. "Then what was the point?"
Tanya shrugged. "I always said that war was a waste of resources."
The point for her would have been achieving a position where she couldn't be shot at anymore, but Being X had ensured she never got that except for a few brief interludes.
The conversation remained nonexistent for a few moments, and Tanya took the liberty to finish off her coffee – she wouldn't be getting much sleep, but she hadn't planned on getting much anyway.
"Well, what about the other members of the Crimson Axis?" Viktoriya said. Tanya shrugged again. "America has the most industrial might on the planet, and they aren't in bombing distance of their enemies, barring the aliens. The Americans have allies close by who can help bomb and invade their enemies. Also, there's something… off about the Germans," she finished.
The others looked between themselves at that pronouncement, but she didn't say anything else. She did not know, for a fact, whether the Nazis had set up their death camps yet, but it went without saying that they'd probably done some very horrific things, even if the war had ended early.
Should she be in the position to, using her knowledge of those atrocities to ensure the Empire didn't go anywhere near a state so idiotic and sure to destroy itself would be wonderful, as long as no one questioned how she'd learned about things that weren't widely known.
The Federation in the Empire's world certainly hadn't broadcasted the many crimes they'd committed the Empire had uncovered in their march east.
The conversation remained dead for a few minutes until, when a commotion was raised at the bar and a newspaper was waved about, Neumann got a gleeful, conniving look in his eyes as he looked towards Tanya. "Tanya. I was wondering."
"I'm sure about something good."
"You're a Lieutenant now, and we heard some very interesting information while you were talking with the Kaiser. I was wondering if your new job that you need us for has anything at all to do with sheships?"
Tanya raised an eyebrow. "What on Earth gave you that idea?"
His poker face was excellent as he replied. "Nothing at all. Certainly not rumors and hearsay. Or the fact that the newspapers have been publishing schematics of our own ships like the foreigners."
Tanya resisted the urge to sigh tiredly – she was stuck talking about work even during her time off when she'd like a moment to relax – but she did straighten up. "I don't know precisely how secret all this is supposed to be kept, so treat it like the Type 97 – never mention it to anyone you don't know is in the know… or, actually, don't mention it to anyone until I get told how secret it's supposed to be. Wouldn't want me getting in trouble, right?" she asked rhetorically, a hint of a threat in her voice.
They all nodded rapidly as Tanya continued. "Well, officially, I'm training the sheships on how to use their new bodies. Unofficially, I've got to figure out how the hell they're supposed to operate, at the tactical level at the very least, and train them for that. I'm hoping we get to see a demonstration of the capabilities of the other sheships so I can try to infer what I need to train them on."
"Really?" Koenig asked. "You don't have any ideas?"
Tanya scoffed. "Of course I have ideas. But… plenty of them have melee weapons. Are they just for show, or do they actually need to get that close to the Sirens? What does 'fighting the Sirens' really entail? Should I even train them to fight the Sirens, considering how lightly the rest of the world seems to be taking the threat of alien invaders?"
She let her head fall into her hands – a tad dramatic, maybe, but after so many years of war, she'd been hoping it might be ending sometime soon-
Viktoriya piped up before Tanya could finish the pessimistic thought. "It's not like they'll be expected to do everything, and no one would expect you to know everything. If there's something you think they'll need to be able to do, find someone else who does. Specialization and all that, right?"
Tanya almost lashed out – the General Staff had certainly seemed to expect her to be able to accomplish any task they set before her during the war – but then Viktoriya's words sparked another idea.
She began to grin. "Perhaps you're correct," she said, her troubles fading slightly. Yes, perhaps she was right, though not in the way she thought she was.
The sheship representing the 'Eagle Union,' Enterprise, had talked about a lot during her frankly long winded speech, but one of the things she had mentioned was something called 'Type II rigging,' which allowed for the upgrading of older ships. Upgrading old equipment and advancing technology were always important.
The fact that a derivative of that technology allowed for sheships that were killed to come back to life completely blew an upgrade with a few extra bells and whistles out of the water. Nemonia would not lose any ships, once it got the technology – and considering both sides had it, the Empire would get it.
Tanya's dilemma about training the ships and potentially being singled out and blamed for their loss was much reduced, then. Still, if the sheships were unable to complete the objectives assigned to them for a prolonged period, Tanya might wind up in the same situation all over again, which meant she was still stuck in square one wondering what she was supposed to train them in.
Unless, like Viktoriya suggested, Tanya wasn't the only one who trained them.
Some submarines failed to hit a convoy with their torpedoes? Clearly, it was a failure of the naval personnel who trained them.
A battleship lost a sword duel with a Siren? Whoever trained them in fighting with their sword was at fault.
The cruisers had bad etiquette and had ruined a diplomatic visit? Tanya certainly wouldn't be training them in that field, so Tanya couldn't be blamed for it!
"Yes, a perfect idea! Thank you, Visha-"
"And maybe, since Nemonia is its own part of the Empire's military, you can write the rules for their training instead of being limited by the regular rules?"
Tanya's grin only grew. That would certainly satisfy her criteria of ensuring that she was as blameless for whatever failures Nemonia eventually encountered.
"You're right," she said, "with a freer hand… I certainly would have been able to make you all quit," she mused to herself.
As Tanya continued to identify skills that the sheships of Nemonia could be trained in – first aid and disaster relief, logistics, engineering – the other four seated at the table sent out a prayer to the sheships Tanya would help train. They felt bad for them…
Only a little bit. Because it could have been them that were-
"Oh, and while I'm at it, I'll write up some papers for you three on how mages should be trained and standards for them. I never did get you all fully trained. If you have any trouble understanding what I write, just come ask for some refresher training."
They chuckled nervously. Dammit.
-OxOxO-
Come six o'clock the next morning, Tanya was still bright eyed despite only getting a few hours of sleep, thanks to Visha's coffee – it would hit her hard in the evening, but she'd spent her time up last night well. She strolled towards the large warehouse on the border between the old navy base and the new constructions. She wasn't exactly energetic – four hours of sleep did that to you – but she showed no outward signs of her lingering lethargy.
The Kaiser had delivered on his promises and Tanya had gotten what she'd wanted – and then some! Viktoriya, along with the other two mages from the 203rd on his security detail, Ernest Young and Paul Baumer, were now assigned to work for her during her tenure as the 'Chief Instructor' of Nemonia.
The rest of the former 203rd had also been assigned to her for the remained of the Unity Celebration – she supposed the logic was that they wouldn't be getting much of their actual work done while they had to be on hand to play at being 'heships,' so they'd be better served staying close to her anyway.
Most importantly, however, were the numerous paperpushers she'd acquired. The nameless and thankless men and women, whether from the Salamander Kampfgruppe who she knew personally of, the ones Ugar had recommended she request that she'd managed to snag, and the ones she didn't know that the various navy factions had assigned to Nemonia when they'd discovered she needed the help.
She still needed more people – the exhaustive list of things the sheships would need to be trained to do couldn't be completed by Tanya alone, after all – but it was a good start.
Hoping to capitalize on that good start, the meeting she'd had with Schugel and then with Basel an hour later had given her a much better grasp of the structure of Nemonia and where exactly she fit into it.
There was no structure.
Well, that was a bit harsh. There was no leadership, which was concerning for any number of reasons, the most pressing of which she felt was that she might end up with another fucking job she didn't want.
Tanya was the Chief Instructor – she'd received the paperwork two hours ago. She currently had thirty five people working under her for the duration of the training along with an extra twenty-four mages from the decimated 203rd to help for the remainder of the Unity Celebration.
While the sheships she was trained were subordinate to her, they were not her subordinates.
And that was it. No one was leading Nemonia. The base they were getting their supplies from was owned by the navy. Considering it served as the main port for the High Seas Fleet, Nemonia wasn't likely to take it over anytime soon.
Schugel was probably the closest thing to a leader considering he was Nemonia's 'Head Researcher,' but he was currently focused on turning the ships they had into sheships, despite the stress it was causing to logistics…
Though, considering the cost of keeping the ships as they were, his work was actually helping keep costs down.
She was certain it was the first time any of his work had managed that.
Of course, she had no fucking idea where he'd gotten the 250 number he'd quoted to her yesterday, because Nemonia had been given 193 ships to start with. It was, technically, the largest Imperial fleet ever assembled, with ships from all three of the Empire's fleets.
It had earned that title only by technicality because the vast majority were not crewed.
Again, it kept down the cost.
Regardless, Tanya had gone over the specifics of what and who she would need to train. In total, there were forty capital ship hulls, a mix of battleships and battlecruisers, thirty-seven cruiser hulls of varying capability, seventy-four destroyer hulls, and forty-two submarine hulls.
A little over half of each group had been awakened, besides the submarines, which were lagging behind. Tanya didn't blame Schugel for prioritizing the surface fleet at this point – the Empire's submarines were mostly designed for targeting shipping, something the Sirens did not appear to have much of.
Schugel had helpfully explained the lack of leadership when she'd met him: it was, predictably, a problem with the factions of the navy who all wanted someone else in control, with the added twist that the sheships wanted one of their own to lead them… and that they also suffered from infighting.
Among the fifteen or so ships with names relating to royalty, three or four ships named after monarchs thought they should lead due to their 'royal peerage,' while another two – Kaiserreich and Deutschland – thought they should lead because they 'embodied the nation.' Considering the number of ships named after old leaders, it was expected that the problem would only grow as more were awakened.
That wasn't the only facet of the infighting, because some of the ships still had lingering loyalty towards the fleets they had been assigned to or to the naval faction who held the most sway on them during their time as a hull.
Tanya had no doubt the division would be reflected during her training in the form of squabbling and headaches. First, however…
Tanya waved and smiled to the crowd gathered in the warehouse. A few waved back, while others relaxed, waiting for her to arrive already.
Only the 203rd stood at attention. She had expected as much.
She understood the consternation in the gazes of some of those who were relaxing. They'd been forced to get up early so she could give them a speech, after which they'd have to start working. It was a disruption to their sleep and their schedules. She wasn't ever happy when she had to do the same with her superiors, so of course they weren't.
She managed to appear happy when that had happened. Regardless, and unfortunately for them, she really needed to have this talk, specifically before they got anywhere near the sheships.
She arrived and greeted those she recognized and introduced herself to the newer faces again as she walked to the front of the room – Viktoriya was standing at the ready and smiled at her. Tanya smiled and nodded back as the assembled people directed their attention to her and cut off their conversations.
"I do apologize for getting you all up this early, but I felt there was no better way to ensure you internalized the message I'm going to give you before we get to work," she said without preamble, the earlier joviality of her voice gone.
"Some of you have seen the foreign sheships, the shipgirls. Some of you have not. I am making myself perfectly clear to you, here and now, so there is no chance of misunderstanding."
"Broadly, the Empire is a meritocracy. If you are skilled, you keep your job or are promoted. Though the sheships have not yet had a chance to prove themselves, their crews kept them alive and fighting until now, and they deserve respect for that."
That last point was a bit of a lie. The Empire's navy hadn't done much during the war. There certainly hadn't been any large naval battles with the Commonwealth to justify its existence… but the crews of the ships had kept them running so far, so it was only a partial lie.
"Therefore, you will treat them with the respect they are due as part of the Empire. If there is any… misconduct-"
Tanya frowned. "No, that is too vague. The clothing that many of them wear is undeniably… sexually provocative. I have little doubt that you all can be trusted despite that. I'll see about… changing their clothing to something closer to the regulation, but if any of you take what they wear as an invitation, well," she trailed off, smiling broadly again.
"I'll make sure to personally cremate whatever miserable scraps they see fit to leave splattered across the ground so your families don't have to see the state they left you in," she finished with a bright smile.
Imperial rules on the matter were very clear in this matter – they had to be, because ability with magic did not discriminate based on gender, which meant the military hadn't been able to either.
The newer faces were aghast at her declaration, but most of the people there were aware of her style of command if they hadn't worked under her personally. She meant every word to – whatever fool tried it deserved whatever they got.
With a shrug, she took off from the ground. "I vaguely recall hearing rumors about being careful courting mages because of their power. It goes without saying that a woman that can conjure a naval gun into existence is that much more powerful, no?"
She let her threats hang in the air with her for a few moments. "Now, I have a speech to give the sheships. I suggest that you all get to work – I want to get as much training done in the next week while we've got so many mages on hand!"
With that, she took off over their heads towards the sheship portion of the base. Tanya was still somewhat unsure of what she'd do to whoever decided they had better things to do than show up for training – she might be writing the book on how to train them, but there was no way she could get away with killing any of them as an example…
Although, with the Type II rigging, maybe she could get away with it?
She landed outside of the 'barracks' for the sheships – the building took up more than twice the room a standard barracks was supposed to for a group over four times their size, so Tanya had the distinct feeling that it would be highly irregular. Just like their clothing.
Tanya let out a shaky sigh. Figuring out how to get them into regular uniforms would be her first item on today's agenda, after some combat trials with the mages she had.
Tanya pushed through the front doors, setting her face into an impassive mask of-
"Fools! You may have ruled some bit of territory at one point or another, but only I embody the-"
"Rainerhorn, you're the eldest sister! Help me reign in the hellions-"
"De Ruyter quit taunting Huginn just because she's shorter-"
"Yoho, yoho, a pirate's life for-"
"G90, you are not a pirate just because-"
Tanya felt almost felt her mask slip. Why was this her-
"Sorry I couldn't get them to calm down, Tanya," she heard to her right. She did not sigh as she appraised Basel, seemingly nervous and getting more so with Tanya's critical gaze.
"Did you manage to get everyone here?" she asked. Basel nodded rapidly, smiling sunnily. "Course I-"
"Good." With that, she spun away from Basel and marched through the bedlam, towards the front of the room – it seemed more like a hotel's lobby than anything she'd seen in a barracks.
An upscale hotel.
As she walked, a ball of paper flew towards her, which she deflected with the activation of her active barrier formula. It also deflected the wrench that flew through the air that she hadn't noticed, and kept her from being bumped into by the roughhousing girls.
By the time she'd reached the front desk, a good half of the room was staring at her in silence, and the shrill whistle she let off when the rest failed to notice her presence ensured they became silent quickly…
She narrowed her eyes as she looked at the gathered crowd. The varied faces looked at her in confusion or curiosity or… delight?
The bottom line was that she did not see very much respect.
Tanya smiled broadly. She would change that, one way or another.
"Thank you again, Basel, for rounding everyone up for this meeting. Couldn't have done it without you."
"Aw, no problem, Tanya."
Tanya's eyes narrowed again at the sunny disposition of the woman. "Hmm. Well, I figured I should announce it to you all that I am officially the Head Instructor of Nemonia now. I and those working under me will be training you all in a variety of fields to combat the Siren threat facing the Empire."
"In line with that," she continued, "I wanted to know if you all had any preferences for the training schedule? I-"
She didn't get another word out.
"Oh, it can't be too early! Me and my sisters are going to the bottom of the bay to-"
"-got football practice later in the day-"
"-tea time-"
"-science project-"
"-art-"
"And don't put me with Habsburg, she's a-"
"Excuse me? Why don't you say it to-"
"METTERNICH! Get her-"
"G90, I swear-"
"No one likes you Barbarossa! Go fall in a-"
"Van Oranje, please get your sister off of my-"
Tanya watched the chaos reemerge, absorbing what pieces of the conversation she could. It seemed that Schugel's assessment had been correct, this time – they were just as split as the regular navy. If some of them were able to participate in their hobbies together, then clearly some commonality existed, but-
Tanya let out another shrill whistle, enhanced using her voice amplification formula this time, and held it for twenty seconds, not stopping until the final fight had stopped – Basel had gotten entangled with… Monarch, if she wasn't mistaken.
"Somehow, you all have the honor of being some of the worst recruits I have ever trained – even the worst of the worst that I managed to train before was able to conduct themselves well enough to stand at attention, after I drove home just how serious I was about being their instructor despite my appearance."
She glowered as a few began to look bashful. "I am sure, considering the stature of some of your compatriots, that none of you have that particular problem."
She let the silence persist for a moment. She'd cowed about half of the room, but the other half was hiding their defiance, poorly or with skill.
"I hope that you all rectify your behavior soon – because if you don't I'll do it for you."
She smiled as more heads fell. "Since you all clearly cannot agree on your own schedule," and how odd it felt even entertaining the idea that they had input on such a thing, "I will be designing-"
"And if we don't dance to your tune, missy?"
Tanya fought the urge to blink rapidly. She hadn't been called that before.
It was novel, at least.
She turned her head and found herself staring at a young woman with her arms crossed and staring Tanya down defiantly. She wore black leather boots that came up to her knees with a few inches of heel, and was one of the few people who were actually wearing pants that seemed similar to Tanya's flight suit.
She made up for that 'modesty' by wearing a well-tailored leather jacket with nothing beneath it, as well as a black collar. A pair of aviator glasses hung by a string around her neck. Her eyes were a bright blue and contrasted with her deep black hair.
What was most curious was the bird motif. The side profile of a bird's head was stenciled into the collar of her jacket, while feathers falling in the air were embroidered into the front of her jacket. She even wore a bracelet with a pair of actual feathers tied into it.
"And you are…?"
Her scowl deepened. "Falke, of the Falke class."
Tanya blinked. Right, that name explained the bird motif, at least. As for the answer to the woman's question…
That was one of the problems Tanya knew she would encounter. How was she to discipline unruly subordinates when they weren't human?
Seeing as they were military property – probably? – she couldn't just kick them out of the army. Wounding or killing assets as valuable as them was also out of the question, especially because if they failed to protect the Empire from the Sirens, Tanya was back on the chopping block.
Thankfully, Tanya had come up with a few ideas.
"Well, Falke, if I remember correctly, your sisters are Schwalbe, Sperber, and Seeadler, correct?"
Falke scoffed. "They aren't awakened-"
"And I'm sure I could convince Schugel to push one of them ahead in the queue, at which point, they would be doing your training along with their own."
Falke's bravado broke for a moment. "T- Then we'll all refuse-"
"At which point I'll hand out your duties to the ships you served with in the… Inner Sea Fleet, if I recall?"
Falke bravado wavered and then rebounded once more. How annoying. "And if we all refuse?"
Tanya's eyes narrowed again. "Then when the Sirens come to conquer the Empire, we'll lose, and the whole of the Empire will curse your names." They were, after all, supposed to be some esoteric 'representation' of the beliefs of the people of the Empire. Perhaps then…
That finally broke her spirit, and Tanya could only smile as she muttered an agreement to participate under her breath. "Wonderful. And, if that isn't enough of a threat, then it goes without saying that if you aren't doing any of your work, you won't get paid-"
"We're getting paid!?"
At least half of the room – including, judging from their clothing, the pirates – were shocked at that, causing Tanya to quirk an eyebrow at them, honestly baffled. "Of course? What did you-"
"But we heard," a destroyer that looking passingly similar to Cauberg said as she jumped forward, "that we were just weapons and that we should be thankful to have-"
Tanya shook her head. "Every person who enlists or gets conscripted into the army is a weapon. That doesn't mean they don't get paid for putting their lives on the line. Who on Earth told you you wouldn't be getting paid?"
A voice from in the back of the crowd shouted "Schugel!" and Tanya could only sigh again. "Schugel is… he may be skilled in certain areas, but he is certifiably insane."
Falke spoke again, her harsh expression gone. "Don't badmouth that man. He may be eccentric, but he's the reason we're alive."
Tanya raised a disbelieving eyebrow and sneered. "That man would defile a baby if God told him it was a good idea."
That shut them all up, and Tanya smiled chipperly. "You all have thirty minutes to get prepared. Don't be worried if you see a few new faces around here or in your part of the base – they're working for Nemonia as well."
With that, she paced out of their barracks. Considering how quickly their tune had changed once she'd mentioned their pay, she would have to open with that next time.
If there was a next time. She almost wanted to say that it wouldn't happen again, but she knew that with Being X arrayed against her, the chance would never be zero.
-OxOxO-
Taihou watched her countrymen scurry over Japan's offering during this small exhibition. She had been occasionally barking out 'suggestions' to them – she wasn't technically their superior, but she'd ensured that the few rank and file from Japan that had been sent to the Empire that hadn't bent the knee before her knew the consequences of ignoring her suggestions – but overall she was satisfied.
With them. For the moment.
She scowled. Her frustration was back, and taking it out on them wasn't going to help long term.
Each faction was displaying something, partly to showcase the progress of technology between the time the Empire had been in and the modern day. More pressingly, the technology on display from each country couldn't be accessed if the Empire decided to join the other faction.
The politicians and diplomats had arranged it before the beginning of the Unity Celebration. The Sakura Empire had been asked to participate fairly late in the planning process.
Taihou rolled her eyes as she watched one of the sailors nearly trip and drop the various cell phones on display from Japan's top tech companies. Another large part of the reason this was going on was because the Italian's World Expo was behind schedule, to many people's disappointment.
Taihou hardly cared about the entire thing – the lack of civilians, or even low ranking members of the military meant that it wasn't like there was anyone to be interrogated for information.
Of course, that had been her view that morning. Now that she'd heard the Empire's Kaiser was attending, not being there would be a slight against him, a possible point of failure in the negotiations, and a reason she could be denied leadership of the Sakura Empire. So here she was, standing around and watching unimportant people doing unimportant things while wishing she didn't have to be there.
Preliminary intelligence that she'd managed to obtain had suggested that he wasn't an absolute monarch or a dictator – though even that much had needed to be inferred because the entire area surrounding the Unity Celebration had been completely emptied of civilians.
She would have liked to figure out what the hell was going on with that kansen from yesterday – Tanya von Degurechaff. Who she'd been named after, what her service history was like, how she flew, why the hell they sounded exactly like each other…
But she couldn't, and the lack of civilians was just one of the suspicious facts surrounding this whole charade. Designs for the kansen – she was not going to change what she called them, even if they weren't women – hadn't yet been provided, with no excuse beyond 'bureaucratic and legal limitations,' on the release of military secrets.
That didn't stop them from publishing other designs that apparently weren't limited by such things, of course.
Suruga had been frustrated by the stonewalling her formal requests had received, while Akashi had been annoyed that her attempts to create some 'economic ties' with the locals hadn't borne fruit. Takao…
Taihou's scowl deepened. Takao had had her hands full with the other five. She usually only had to keep her sister from jumping whichever 'hot stud' she saw, but now she had to contend with Hiyou, Junyou, Kumano, and Suzuya as well…
And Taihou was helping Takao.
It felt like torture. Her heart – among the various parts of her body – was telling her that she should go find the group of kansen from yesterday and finally do what she'd been wanting to do for literally years.
Her mind and her desire for a higher station was restraining her. She would become the Sakura Empire's leader, even if it meant ignoring what her body wanted for now.
It would be worth it. It had to be.
"Taihou, Taihou! We've got a purroblem!"
Speaking of Akashi. Taihou's gaze snapped to the green-haired girl. "What is it?"
She flinched back, and Taihou sighed and dialed down her scowl – there was no need to take out her frustration on the money-obsessed kansen. If she made the girl think she was mad at her, then she'd fall back on her more formal speaking, which Taihou really did despise. She wanted nothing to do with useless niceties if she didn't have to use them.
"Sorry. What's the problem?" she asked, her tone more level.
"The Kaiser's here with an entourage!"
Taihou waited for the girl to continue. When she didn't for several seconds, Taihou resisted the urge to sigh – this was going to become a production, then. "And why is that a bad thing?" she asked, already exasperated.
Akashi continued. "Well, he's visiting us and the Americans last, but he visited the Germans and British first. He was nyat impressed."
"With both?"
"Nyat really, mostly the Germans."
She frowned. Prinz Eugen had been fairly confident in her country's presentation, according to their communications with each other. Perhaps, as Taihou had assumed, they thought that because this place was similar to their own country, they would have an easy time convincing them to join them.
"Alright, walk me through what happened. I assume you were watching the whole thing?"
Akashi nodded. "It's nyo use to man my stand, because there's nyo way I can sell any of my stuff to a bunch of old fogies. I'll wait till they let us nyat the civvies-"
Taihou raised an eyebrow and Akashi continued. "Eh, the Germans made mockups of their newest ICBMs and space vehicles and talked about how they're going to beat the Americans and Soviets to the moon. Get this: they already have rocket technology!"
Taihou tilted her head. "They do? But aren't they-"
Akashi scowled petulantly. "The technology they have is all out of whack. They put kansen in their rockets, had them pilot them towards their version of France, flew out, and then attacked to sow confusion and ensure the success of the maneuver that ended the conventional war with France."
Taihou blinked owlishly. "That sounds…"
Insane. That sounded insane.
Honestly, though, it wasn't that much different from Enterprise's trick with riding her planes, she supposed.
"Alright. What else?"
"The British showed off mockups of their last generation of jet fighters and tanks, as well as their civilian airliner. He was much more interested in that."
Taihou nodded along. If he was the kind of person who was impressed by lots of metal, then the Japanese would blow anything Azur Lane had out of the water with their own offering.
"The British and German Kansen then did a… runway show of sorts?"
"They weren't-"
Akashi shook her head. "Nyo, nyot an actual one. That wouldprobably give them heart palpitations," she snickered. "They just showed off their rigging and clothes, and they said their introduction lines. However…"
Taihou raised an eyebrow as Akashi scowled again. "They had good poker faces, but nothing gets by me. They seemed… unused to seeing them. I'm not sure if it was how much skin some of them showed off or if it was their rigging but… I think it might have been both?"
Taihou scowled, just as confused as Akashi appeared to be. Both? How could that be?
"Alright," Taihou said. She'd set aside yet another suspicious going on in this Empire for her to think about for now. "Did anything else happen during the show? I know they both brought Blueprint ships – anything embarrassing?"
Akashi shook her head. "Nyo. Cheshire, Roon, and Mainz held it together."
It was unfortunate that Cheshire hadn't done something odd or crass to get egg on the Royal Navy's face, but it was good that Mainz and Roon had held it together – Prinz Eugen had almost been outwardly nervous about having Roon around, and had communicated to her that Mainz had been acting more odd that usual.
"What next?" she asked. The problem with the Kaiser not being impressed by the rockets wasn't great, but Akashi wouldn't sound as worried as she did without something relatively major. The only exhibit left after showing off the technology and kansen was-
"It was the average family exhibit," Akashi said. Taihou scowled. How in the world-
"He was fine with the British – even made a little speech lamenting the losses of the war and the Empire's conflict with the 'Commonwealth of Albion' – but with the Nazis, they decided to make it a platform for talking about their political ideology."
Taihou's frown deepened. "I take it, then, that he wasn't happy?"
Akashi rapidly shook her head. "At first, they didn't really notice – who'd notice all the dummies have blonde hair and blue eyes and think something's wrong? – but one of their SS goons started going on about Jews and Aryans and the superiority of the Germanic race, and then the others all agreed." Akashi's frustration bled into her voice.
"One of his entourage is Jewish," Akashi continued, "and three others are from non-German parts of the Empire. They were not pleased. He was not pleased. He has aristocratic family from all over the Empire, and said that kind of discrimination was outlawed in the Empire and that he'd ban the party if that was what they believed."
Taihou's scowl deepened. Her mission would not end in failure because of them. She would not let it.
"Stupid idiotic humans!" Akashi said, sulking, causing Taihou to roll her eyes.
Taihou knew she cared more about her bottom line than anything else, which was the only reason she cared in this instance. Her stores discriminated against Koreans and Chinese in the homeland and its colonies, against blacks in the USA's south, and against Jews in Germany.
Taihou didn't say anything about it because she also knew Akashi only did it because her shops might get shut down or attacked by the idiots who believed in that kind of thing otherwise, and that she traded with those minorities under the table anyway.
Not that the green catgirl knew that Taihou had learned that last part.
"That just means," Taihou said, cutting off Akashi's lambasting of humanity's foibles, "that we need to work harder to ensure he isn't soured completely on the Crimson Axis. Right?"
Akashi nodded rapidly, and Taihou smiled sweetly. It was time to get to work.
She turned towards the rank and file Japanese, who'd stopped their work. "And who gave you all permission to rest? I assume you all are aware of what an honor it is to be here, which means you know you should be working."
They picked up their pace immediately, and Taihou nodded as they continued their work. Everything would be perfect.
Taihou would become the Sakura Empire's leader.
-OxOxO-
Enterprise stood at the ready, nervously adjusting the medals and tags pinned to her jacket – which she had reluctantly buttoned up for now. It wasn't every day you met the head of state of a foreign country, after all! Even she, for all of her fame, had only met the last president once. She'd had a bit more contact with the new one, but her point remained true.
Enterprise found her gaze being dragged away from some point in the distance above everyone's heads and towards her left. The entire show was arranged in a giant circle, and the Royal Navy's exhibition was to their left. She could see that, even now, when no one was around to see, that Belfast was standing at the ready, her eyes closed and a patient smile on her face.
The sound of a throat clearing ripped her gaze back towards the middle distance out of reflex – she was under no illusions that it would save her.
Still, she tried to smile confidently at the short woman before her.
Langley's return gaze was as unimpressed as Enterprise had thought it would be.
"Enterprise."
"I know-"
"If you're not going to focus on our exhibition, at least focus on the Japanese one." She chidded her, and Enterprise hung her head.
Maybe she wouldn't have been as nervous if she knew more of what was going on, which she should know, as the leader of the Eagle Union, but…
Dammit, it had been so long since she'd seen Belfast! They'd met by happenstance in the interwar period, when Azur Lane had remained whole, when Enterprise had been doubting her self-worth and value as anything other than a weapon. She'd talked her down, and they'd been fast friends and maybe…
Enterprise shifted her gaze to the Japanese exhibition. Nope. She wouldn't think about that. Distracting herself with the Japanese exhibition was a much better idea than entertaining impossible ideas.
The Empire's Kaiser – not that anyone was sure if he was in charge or if he even had any power or if he was just a screen for someone in his retinue – had just arrived after finishing at the Soviet's exhibition.
He would have visited the French Republic and the French State after the British and Germans. She foggily remembered that they were doing something with art while staring daggers at each other. The Republic of China and the Chinese People's Republic had brought historical artifacts and were doing much the same as the French.
No one had expected much from the group, considering they were all in the midst of civil wars gone cold with each other, as well as having trouble with internal conflict. She didn't know too much about what was going on in China besides lots of internal strife, but she had some relatively detailed reports about the French Republic's trouble in Madagascar and Indochina, and she knew that the British were keeping an eye on the trouble going on in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The Italians, on the other hand, had presented incredibly accurate models of the Nemi twins's hulls, some artifacts that had been found on the ships, as well as models of the two shipgirls that had been awakened from the hulls.
Her gaze lingered on the diplomats of the Empire and Japan gesturing towards the display of Japan's latest advancements concerning the internet, cell phones, and computers. She was glad that the Italians had kept to the treaty and hadn't shared information on the Tempesta project with the rest of the Crimson Axis… yet. Most everyone she talked to about it was sure they would share it sooner rather than later, but Constitution had faith in the treaty.
The Soviets had shown off their latest 'advancements' with their rigging – more of the monstrous, hulking creatures that seemed closer to Siren or Iron Blood technology than Azur Lane.
She watched them closely. Everyone was all smiles, and it didn't seem like the Kaiser was anywhere near as upset as he had been at Germany's exhibition. Maybe it was a bluff though?
She really should have paid more attention during the briefings she'd been given instead of thinking about Belfast…
Belfast-
"Enterprise."
She looked up suddenly and found that the other group was gone, heading down a side path she hadn't seen towards…
"They're showing him the Yamato?" She asked the open air-
"Yes," Langley bit out next to her. "I caught a few snippets of their conversation. They didn't seem overly shocked about the cell phones. One of them said something about radios, but unless they don't really understand what they're seeing, the comparison isn't very good."
Enterprise nodded rapidly as Langley's eyes narrowed. "Speaking of speaking. You've kept up your studies of Japanese and German, right?"
She nodded rapidly. "Yes, of course."
She sighed in exasperation. "Alright. They're letting Taihou tag along with them, perhaps to talk shop about their shipgirls. Are you up for doing the same if necessary?"
She nodded sharply. "Of course, Langley. Aren't I the leader here?"
Langley raised an eyebrow. "I don't know, how much of your time are you going to spend staring at Belfast?"
Enterprise gibbered, and Langley sighed, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I know, I get it. You like her. You can't get distracted by that right now. You're the leader of the Eagle Union – I can't pick up the slack for you and do my own duties at the same time."
Enterprise nodded once, and Langley smiled chipperly. "Thank you. And who knows: if you wait until tonight to talk with her, there's no way for anyone to interrupt, right?"
She brightened, and the two of them discussed their administrative duties for the half an hour it took for the Kaiser to get back. When he did, things were still all smiles, but special focus seemed to be on Taihou.
Enterprise didn't scowl, of course. She honestly had no idea why Taihou seemed so hostile towards her – they'd never even come close to fighting each other during the war!
Would she ever get along with Japanese aircraft carriers?
She shook her head and kept her face blank as Langley faded into the background as the Kaiser and his entourage walked towards their exhibit. She was sure their technology would blow him away, but-
The diplomat greeted the Kaiser in German, bowing his head slightly. The Kaiser, in turn, gripped the man's hand and shook it. "No need for so much pageantry, Mr…?" he replied in accented English. The diplomat introduced himself, and more introductions were made in the group, until-
"And who is this fine young woman?" The Kaiser asked. Enterprise smiled and shook the offered hand. "I am the Yorktown-class aircraft carrier, Enterprise. I've been given more nicknames than I can remember, but 'Gray Ghost' is one of them. I was victorious throughout the Second World War, and I'll continue to be victorious until the Siren threat is vanquished."
"Your German is excellent," he replied, and she thanked him. "Another aircraft carrier… Lady Taihou has offered to give a demonstration to prove that the captain of the Yamato was incorrect to claim that battleships can still stand up to carriers. Would you care to throw your hat into the ring?"
She opened her mouth to respond-
SCREE!
She jerked her arm out without thinking and nearly hit the American ambassador. Before she could apologize, Grim landed on her arm and began to stare everyone down.
"Grim, I told you to stay back at the ship."
It gave her an unimpressed look and she sighed. "My apologies for the impetuousness of my pet eagle. He has a mind of his own."
She threw her arm up and he took off with a beat of his wings, and she returned her attention to the Kaiser. "As for your proposition… of course! What better way to show our Unity than through some friendly competition?" she asked rhetorically and smiled, towards both the Kaiser and the more distant Taihou.
The Kaiser thanked her for indulging in his wishes.
Taihou's pleasant mask fractured for an instant.
She trailed along with some of the others as they began to walk around the exhibition – there were some side shows, as with every faction, but they only stopped for brief moments and never stopped their conversation.
The Kaiser spoke at length about food – he wouldn't say just how much was needed, and the only people who made more direct inquiries were within his entourage.
Speaking of the Kaiser's entourage, it was an eclectic mix. Some were clearly military officers or civilians that she assumed were part of the civilian government, while others, despite clearly being aristocrats of some kind, hadn't given out their exact role.
As far as food went, Enterprise was fairly sure that no one had much to spare besides the US – and even they didn't have a lot. The Germans and Soviets had a bit, but most of Europe and Asia was still cleaning up in the wake of the destruction caused by the Second World War.
The next topic was aircraft carriers – the Empire had only just started to convert a luxury liner into an experimental ship, much like the efforts of Germany at the tail end of the first world war. They could, of course, take a look at the schematics that the various powers had published thus far, but that would still put whatever they made a few decades behind the manned ships everyone currently operated.
As they wound towards the end of the exhibition, where a modern American family stood – surrounded by appliances and living well – the Kaiser smiled broadly at the diplomat. "I've sensed a pattern with the exhibitions by the naval powers of this world. What wondrous technology do you have to show me at the end of our tour?"
The American diplomat smiled and gestured to the large curtain, while Enterprise smiled. She'd been looking forward to this.
"Presenting your highness with the fruits of American wartime research: the first wisdom cube reactor ever created!"
The curtain dropped, and the gathered crowd – from the American and Imperial camps, as well as from the onlookers from the other exhibits – gasped as one of the scientists that had gotten it up and running again began to read the fact sheet.
"First turned on in 1944, the Roosevelt Wisdom Cube Generator, renamed from the Hanford Wisdom Cube Generator after the passing of the thirty-second president of the United States, provides a modest but continuous amount of power fueled by the Wisdom Cube at its core. The process that takes place within is the basis for the risk-free energy that is sweeping the world, making coal obsolete, and even giving oil a run for its money!"
It was an immense machine, nearly two stories tall and cylindrical, but the blue glow radiating out of the small windows into its interior showed that it was working.
The diplomat turned to the Kaiser. "And it's yours to keep and tinker with as you wish. Whether you join us or not."
The Kaiser's gaze whipped towards the diplomat, his face showing happy surprise while his eyes drilled into the diplomat. "You would give up something so valuable, and are already providing some food to us thanks to your Commision for Relief in the Empire. What have we done to engender such magnanimity?"
The diplomat smiled. "You can't help us beat the Sirens if you've got troubles at home, can you? Besides, it's easy to sell it back home as an extension to the Allied Recovery Program, even if you aren't an ally."
The Kaiser nodded along reluctantly. Enterprise felt the difficulty of keeping her face a mask of geniality – she was well aware that the aid could and would be blocked if they sided with the Crimson Axis. She also knew that the reactor had become outdated in the extreme, even after only four years, and that the name of the reactor in particular had been giving the government in Washington state headaches ever since…
Enterprise rubbed her chest as a feeling burned her heart. Vestal had told her humans had any number of conditions that could affect them in a similar way, but they both knew that this feeling was different from something biological-
"Enterprise. We should not keep the Kaiser waiting, yes? Let us give our demonstration. To show our unity."
Her attention snapped to Taihou as the guards lurking around the area moved towards the scientists and diplomatic personnel at the woman's tone, but Enterprise just smiled through the pain in her chest and focused on her mission.
"Of course," she replied as the feeling subsided, "I assume you had something in mind? We aren't supposed to be having any joint exercises until the last day, after all."
"I propose… a race, then."
…When Enterprise tried to think of any reasons that might be a bad idea, she couldn't find any. Honestly, this was the most sane competition she'd been challenged to yet.
Fighting next to the Sakura Empire during the conflict with the Sirens had been odd, but having to fend off Akagi's demands for a rematch, Kaga, Hiryuu, and Souryuu's passive aggressive barbs, Essex's constant desire for validation, and Zuikaku's demands for a sword duel, a race sounded positively benign.
Of course, it was also the most brazen attempt at challenging her in a field she had a disadvantage in she'd seen yet.
"No problem," she replied, pretending not to see the malicious glint in Taihou's eyes.
It took a bit of wrangling, but they both eventually agreed to race from end to end of the section of the Elbe that Hamborg sat atop. The Imperials had set up markers for them, and Enterprise was doing some stretching as she stood atop the placid waters of the Elbe, taking care not to get tangled with her rigging.
Enterprise smiled at Taihou as someone on the shoreline held up a starting pistol. She wanted to gauge the woman.
"May the best shipgirl win!"
Taihou's neutral stare shifted into a cheshire grin. "Oh, I plan to."
Enterprise felt her expression shift. Damn, she really hoped this could be a more constructive relationship – why weren't there more ships like Shoukaku and Nagato and Amagi in the Sakura Empire?
When the pistol sounded, they both took off skating down the Elbe, quickly building up speed. Wind rushing past her face, water spraying her skin, it felt like she was right back in the war.
They were both neck and neck for the first few moments, and then, as they started to pull apart-
Enterprise could only grin as she looked back at Taihou, who was staring at her in shock and fury. "But- I'm faster! I'm over half a knot faster-"
Enterprise grinned and tapped her rack of medals. "What's auxiliary equipment do you have equipped?" she shouted as they both sped forward.
She'd managed to convince Charles Ausburne to give her the Little Beaver Squadron Tag to increase her speed by 20% before she'd left port in Hawaii, just in case.
The number of times the Sirens had crashed parties, get-togethers, and joint training exercises told Enterprise that there was at least a small possibility that they'd show up this time as well.
The scream Taihou let out as Enterprise kept skating forward was the only warning she had to dive to the side as a column of water went up behind her. She quickly regained her footing and looked back to see-
Solid-red fire dripped from the woman's palms and shot out in great gouts from the tips of the giant fan that made up her rigging, each and every flame spiraling into the air to form planes. "Just a small obstruction! Nothing the gray ghost can't handle right?"
She sent a wave of them towards her, and Enterprise jumped back as they landed in the water – at least she was trying not to hit any civilians.
As fast as ever, she nocked two arrows and let them fly, not bothering to watch where they landed as she continued to skate forwards.
As she knew they would, one headed straight for Taihou. She deflected the glowing airplane with a flame and glared backwards.
Only barely able to see her other arrow, traveling faster, shoot right about her head.
And it continued traveling upwards, until the glowing plane began to expand and complete its loop.
Enterprise smiled widely as Taihou growled and pushed herself forward. From the sound of the plane, it had just reached the apex of its loop, which meant-
She lunged forward and upward, clearing thirty feet but losing ground as Taihou sped along. She hung in the air, weightless for a fraction of a moment.
Then, just as she began to fall-
THUMP.
She gripped the wing of the plane, wind rushing through her hair and a grin on her face. As weary as she had grown of war, she loved pulling off that trick.
Enterprise passed the finish line well ahead of Taihou, and as she watched her reach the finish line, she could only lament that Taihou had tried to do a race.
Enterprise wasn't stupid. She'd done something as basic as memorizing the more important paper statistics of the ships around her. If she was their ally, how else was she supposed to fight with them without knowing their capabilities?
If she was her enemy…
Taihou didn't brush off Enterprise's offer of a handshake, but she definitely would have rendered a normal human hand a bloody pulp with how hard her grip was. "Well played, Gray Ghost," she dropped her hand and began walking towards the docks. "Know this, I will not stop until-"
Enterprise glanced towards the shore – there was plenty of room and they were likely to go unheard – and then she scoffed at Taihou. "Taihou, get in line."
"…What."
"You heard me. Most Sakura ships want to have a go at me, half the Eagle Union fleet wants to spar constantly, at least a dozen ships from the other factions want to test their mettle against me, and I know of one META shipgirl and one Siren that do too. You aren't special for wanting to beat me."
She shook her head at Taihou's confused, baffled, and above all angry expression. "What you did was stupid. I would have been happy to have a friendly competition, but you put people's lives at risk."
"I wouldn't have hit them… which is what you wanted me to do. You goaded-"
Enterprise's already strained expression dipped into cold anger. "Don't try to delude yourself. You thought you could get one up on me in a footrace and assumed I was an idiot for accepting it. You got mad your plan didn't work. It all reflects very poorly on you and the Sakura."
With that, she turned-
"DON'T DISMISS ME! You can't-"
The people on the shore had heard that, from how those at the front had flinched. "I can and will. And even though your actions reflect poorly on the Sakura, I still wish you the best in courting the Empire, because regardless of whether they choose the Crimson Axis or Azur Lane, we're all on the same side in the end," she finished. With that, she jetted towards the docks and put a smile back on her face.
Enterprise was getting tired of this. The night couldn't come soon enough – she needed to talk with Belfast.
And if Taihou really wanted to try her hand at 'getting one up on the Gray Ghost,' they had the joint exercises in five days, where Enterprise would win, as she always did.
-OxOxO-
KASPLOOSH!
"She's… nothing like she looks like…"
"Why didn't the newspapers mention this part of her?"
"I'll… I'll win this! You hear me? I'll prove-"
Tanya did not hear the groans and grumbling of those below her. What she did hear was the sound of explosions echoing across the water. It wasn't quite the same as listening to artillery – it lacked the meaty punch of earth being blown to pieces.
The upside of using the navy in her newest live fire exercises was that the explosions were bigger and there was nowhere for the meat- err, those she was training, to hide.
She looked down on the mass of destroyers and submarines and a single cruiser – Falke, of course – who were being put through the exercise. The high seas fleet had been more than happy to get training on trying to hit human-sized targets – it wasn't likely that they'd ever be sent against the Sirens, but in the chaos of war, anything was possible.
Of course, the goal for those being shot at was to not get shot, and to make the scores for the gunners as bad as possible. No one had been hit yet, of course. The idea that any of them would get hit was almost ludicrous.
On the other hand, if any of them were hit with a weapon whose efficacy against human-sized targets had never even been tested, she would be punishing them severely…
Although, now that she thought about it, she didn't remember the exact percentage by which the guns' accuracy was increased thanks to the marine mages hovering above the distant ships…
She shrugged and moved her attention onto the next group. Oh well. They'd better not let her down, because the number of degrading jobs someone could be assigned to as a punishment was not any less in the navy compared to the army.
Whether they would abide by her punishments was another question, but…
Another group – mostly capital ships and cruisers – was split in half, with some training with each other using their melee weapons while another group was listening to one of the 203rd who'd been shuffled into a teaching position within the army give a lecture on close-quarters combat.
A third group – the smallest – was doing their best to take down the bulk of the 203rd Tanya had been allocated. Above it all, Tanya hung, along with Serebyrakov, taking notes and making observations.
Tanya was figuring out the limits of the sheships in combat. She'd already tried to force the lot of them to change their outfit, and they'd refused. Apparently, the clothing they had been born with was 'intrinsically linked' to their being and couldn't be changed.
The fact that more than a few of them had been talking about fashion when she'd first walked into the foyer of their barracks was completely ignored.
The next thing she'd done was discuss their needs – caloric intake, toiletries, 'feminine hygiene products,' and more. Technically, none of them even needed to eat!
However, they did grow tired. They could either sleep to regain energy or they could eat. Their diet was… varied, as they could eat regular food or consume the fuel they'd run on as ships – which meant drinking ship fuel for the newer ones and biting into lumps of coal for the older ones.
She would be doing more testing, along with liaising with Schugel… or his department, so that she could figure out more about the sheships. She might not have been responsible for Nemonia as a whole, but someone had to submit reports to Naval Logistics on what they needed or they'd begin to grow discontent.
As for how they fought…
It wasn't comfortable to admit, but Tanya's victory against Emden had been a coin toss. Only Emden's lack of familiarity with aerial mages had allowed her to win.
Sheships were several times stronger than mages without even trying, had access to far more firepower, as well as shields in a few cases, depending on the 'skills.' They could withstand hits that would blow away a mage's active barrier formula and the mage all at once.
Mages could only hold their own in some cases due to their maneuverability in the air as well as their optical decoys – though most of the newer ships were equipped with the radar-like machines that allowed for mana emissions to be detected, the lack of which allowed them to single out real mages and fake decoys.
Tanya was fairly certain that six regular Imperial mages might beat a Destroyer or a Submarine – their guns couldn't be everywhere at once. One of the 203rd could probably win against a single Destroyer or Submarine.
The problem being that none of the naval doctrine she'd spent her time without an official post reading up on said that sending ships out alone was a good idea, which meant it was unlikely any mage would get a fight so even.
Tanya's unique skill gave her advantages – she was very efficient with her usage of her mana, and the way that she moved through the air, informed by a lifetime of popular media depicting people flying around without a care in the world for physics, was unpredictable – but even she only had fifty-fifty odds to beat a single cruiser or capital ship, and merely good odds against three destroyers or submarines working in tandem…
Unless she used the Type 97. But even with that, Tanya had her doubts that anything less than praying to Being X and meaning it would let her do something as ridiculous as win against an entire fleet of sheships.
Thankfully, considering the Empire had sheships of its own, the chances that she would be expected to do something so preposterous, especially when she eventually included just how easily sheships could beat even the 203rd, was next to nil.
Tanya licked her lips. Still, if they all died, she'd be next on the chopping block, which meant training them as hard as possible.
With that in mind…
"Viktoriya, signal the high seas fleet to stop firing. Now that we've got a good baseline, it's time for the real training to start."
She grinned. It had been far too long since she'd been allowed to turn fresh meat into effective, efficient meat shields.
Although…
She frowned as she looked down. She needed to train them to fight all manner of enemy, which meant she had to figure out the strategies of the enemy and how best they could be countered.
She doubted she needed to do much thinking about the Soviet and Chinese navies – they hadn't had navies worth the name around the middle of the century, if she was remembering correctly. The Italians and French had navies, but she didn't recall them doing much of note during the wars from her first world. In her second world, the only thing the Francois navy had been good for was running away with the fools who couldn't face the facts to fight another day.
The German and Japanese navies had their peculiarities, though she recalled from her history class that the easiest way to destroy the Japanese Navy would be to ally against them with the Japanese Army. Besides that one German battleship, the German navy hadn't done much but attack civilians and then die during the war.
The British and American navies, especially the American navy, should not be fucked with. She didn't know the specific numbers, of course, but she knew the number of ships the Americans had made during the war had been ridiculous.
That really only left one more enemy. The Sirens.
Tanya's brow furrowed as the training beneath her came to an end. "Lieutenant?"
Tanya snapped her gaze to Viktoriya. "Yes?"
"What… are you thinking about?"
Tanya sighed heavily. "We've been told multiple times that the Sirens are aliens from outer space, correct?"
The woman nodded. "Then tell me. If they had the ability to travel through the stars, why go through this song and dance on the ground? They could wipe out human civilization with a few well-placed asteroids. What do they need humanity for? Their weapons should be far and above anything humanity can produce, not… a few decades ahead of it. If the humanoid Sirens we fought are anywhere close to the strength of the sheships, then they could kill whoever didn't bow down to them with that platform alone. Why… give humanity a weapon to fight them with?"
Viktoriya's curious frown shifted into a deeply worried one. "I… don't know. I doubt anyone does, except for them."
"Maybe," Tanya said. "But I doubt they're less logical than humans, if they can travel through space. Which means we should be able to puzzle it out."
Regardless of the answer, Tanya was sure something wasn't as it seemed. Something was up.
-OxOxO-
She couldn't tear away her gaze from the picture. It stood front and center, in front of the pictures of the Commander's dead family and friends.
The first time she'd seen it, she'd been frozen for a full five minutes. The Commander hadn't been rude and tried to snap her out of it, or pitied her and stared at her like everyone else did.
He'd simply waited for her to finish on her own, patted her on the shoulder, and continued the conversation.
This time, she only froze for five seconds before she began to look over the latest reports one last time before she locked the office up for the night.
Maddox was making slow but steady progress on the Commander's most recent project – not as fast as Ingraham had been, but it was being done all the same. Alfredo Oriani was nearly finished with her documentary about the life of shipgirls at their Caribbean base – at Azur Lane's last base.
She looked around the office one last time, thinking back to her first time there. She'd been amazed that the Commander wanted her to run things while he was gone. She'd wondered how… she would have reacted to hearing that.
She wondered about Indy. Constantly. Was her sister dead? Dying? Was it her fault? She had to know if it was her fault.
She sighed tiredly. But a shipgirl didn't earn as many battlestars and awards as she had by being an idiot. He'd talked at length about not abusing the credentials he was leaving in her care, about oil requisition papers, and mail shipping addresses, about personnel files, and about keeping family together.
She felt tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.
She had wanted to apologize. She still wanted to. He hadn't been keeping her there. It wasn't his fault. All the times she cried into her pillow cursing his name had been a mistake.
So she'd been working quietly for the past few days, going through the things he'd told her to do without actually telling her, as well as other things in order to 'familiarize herself' with the system.
That's what she'd told the Commander's secretary, the one chance she had had to ask before her reassignment yesterday.
There had been no replacement yet, of course – she hadn't requested one, so if she didn't need one, why force someone to go to a tiny island in the Caribbean without any chance for advancement when they didn't have to?
That hadn't been the only question she'd received. A few of the other shipgirls had asked about her changing their patrol patterns so suddenly, and her answer had been an easy lie – she'd worked those patterns and thought these new ones were better.
When she'd received calls from the mainland about why she wanted access to certain files on the Commander's computer, conveniently left behind in his rush to leave, she had blustered and bluffed and rubbed her newfound credentials in the metaphorical nose of whoever questioned her until she got what she wanted.
Now it all came together.
A small part of her rebelled.
Her orders were clear.
The Eagle Union and the United States's orders were indeed clear: she was one of the most decorated ships in the Eagle Union, so someone with her skill needed to stick around Azur Lane, just in case. She was to remain at the base until she was relieved of duty.
Portland glared around the office, at the invisible bugs the Commander was sure were there. She'd tried to leave before, despite those orders, but the fact that she'd never managed to get too far meant the Commander never bothered to officially report her.
She'd hoped she'd be reassigned somewhere due to her bad behavior. She knew better, after so many years.
Her orders from the Commander? Officially, she was to head Azur Lane while he was gone.
But they both knew he never would have taken away Minneapolis and La Galissonnière if he really wanted her to stay. He'd never have given her this position and the power and access that came with it if he really wanted her to stay put.
She'd finally been losing hope. Maybe she had been too overbearing and her sister really did HATE HATE HATE HATE her-
She took in a shaky breath as she began to walk towards the exit to the office. No, she would succeed.
She had to.
If she got caught doing this, she'd be disobeying orders, and she had no idea what would happen after that.
She checked her bag, wincing at how odd and weird it felt to wear and carry clothing that wasn't really hers, and confirmed her paltry savings and the Commander's extensive cash stash were in place.
Who was this ring for, that he'd asked her to sell if she had to? He'd always been perfectly polite and had turned down polite requests for dates and more direct questions all throughout the war, from shipgirls and secretaries and native women alike.
She knew precisely where and how to steal the supplies she needed before she left. There would be no time to sleep while she traveled, which meant taking along food and oil to keep from getting tired.
She had memorized the new patrol pattern – knew it better than anyone at the base who was enforcing it knew it, at any rate. It was just as effective at keeping things out, but much less effective at keeping things, her, in.
If she made it to Jamaica without being spotted, she could bribe her way onto a ship headed for the US. After that…
She suppressed the urge to laugh nervously – when had she become so nervous? Indy wouldn't like that – and steadied herself. After she got to the US, she'd have to search the whole country for her sister… but she had a fairly good idea of where to start. Her sister's last letter had been sent from Virginia, and her letters were always rejected in the same place – New York City. That was where she'd start.
She cast one last look at the office. Quincy, Aylwin, and Arkhangelsk would keep the place running while she was gone. She hoped they'd decide to keep her disappearance quiet for as long as possible like her letter asked, but…
She sniffed loudly once. It felt… terrifying, to look around and know, for a fact, that she was throwing away everything for the slimmest chance to see her sister again.
The slimmest chance to see Indy? That was enough for her!
Portland opened the door and closed it as she stepped through, her barely contained excitement radiating through her body.
I'm coming for you Indy!
-OxOxO-
A/N 1: And so Nemonia continues!
In other news, I'm glad the Tempesta event showed that the faction isn't all pirate ships, as shown by São Martinho. I hope we do get Constitution eventually, as well as some reps from Asia.
As for the 'Nemi Twins' that Enterprise mentioned, the long and short of it is that Caligula made two party boats in Lake Nemi. They eventually sank, and the Italians went through a project to dig them up under Mussolini. They were destroyed in 1944 when the museum they were in got hit with artillery.
When I heard about them, especially how they were recovered in the interwar years, I thought they would make excellent Tempesta ships. You could do the Emden thing or you could split them up and call them Prima and Seconda. Now, do I think they actually have a chance? Probably not. But I think it would be cool. I'll probably write a story about them in Observer's Observances one day.
What, they don't have weapons? Firstly, the Tempesta kill sirens with cannonballs, and secondly, they could be munitions ships or repair ships.
A/N 2: Akashi and Taihou mention the blueprint ships are a bit off in the head. This sure as hell isn't canon for the most part, but I think it should be – a tradeoff for making a ship that didn't ever exist… though with a restriction like that, half of the Iron Blood ships in the game would be insane. HA!
Speaking of crazy, why can't the other factions get some more crazy characters? The Sakura Empire is hogging the crazy, they should give some to the other factions.
A/N 3: Tanya's understanding of the navies of the second world war is understandably limited – she isn't a history major, after all.
Unlike her, I think the Italians shouldn't get dunked on as much as they do, especially on the navy side. They had some noteworthy achievements that people overlook.
A/N 4: If you'd like to donate to support me monetarily, search for Sugarcane Soldier on the website of the Patrons.
Thank you to WarmasterOku, Afforess, and UNSC_Kawakaze for supporting this story and everything else I write. Make sure to vote if you haven't yet!