Chapter 12: Salia's Woes
Captain's Log, March 3rd.
Another incursion. One Galleon and Forty Schooners. 1st Squadron was ordered to engage. While Ange's behavior has seen a pull back, she continues to defy her orders. She broke formation and downed the Galleon-class while everyone else was occupied with the Schooners.
Discipline and obedience are necessary to maintain morale and efficiency within the unit. If Ange cannot do that, then we may have to pull her off Villkiss.
Log complete. No additional notes.
Casualties today: Zero.
The day just had to have that one kink in it. 'Actually, I supposed it'd be a series of them.' Salia thought. Her eyes trailed over to Ange as she dismounted her Arquebus. A week had gone by since the Maid incident and Naomi's return to work, and somehow, they'd gone right from one problem to another. Whatever deal Ange had made with Alain in exchange for his help in buying out Momoka, Ange had been quick to find a loophole. The problem was no longer her stealing kills and preventing them from earning much cash. Instead, Ange just hung back and picked off stragglers, while the moment the rest of the squad was occupied, she would rush in and steal the big DRAGONs all on her own. Meaning that Ange remained the highest earner in Garm. And it was getting on just about everyone's nerves. 'Well, aside from Ersha and Vivian. They could at least spare a bit of annoyance about it.' Salia groaned.
"Alright, I've had enough of this shit!" Rosalie stormed over to Ange as they were leaving the hangar. "What the hell is your deal?!"
"What?" Ange responded. "It's not like you all aren't earning money. What's the problem?"
"The problem is you just swung the other way!" Rosalie replied. "Now you barely do a thing to help any of us, then when we're busy you steal the big kills for yourself! Some of us are barely making more than our supply costs!" Salia glance over as Rosalie gestured to the team, half-expecting Alain to speak up. Yet, he didn't. His narrowed expression said that rather, he agreed with what Rosalie was saying. 'Not that she's wrong.' Salia decided.
"I don't do it all the time." Ange countered.
"Yeah, the one time Alain sniped it before you got to it!" Rosalie snapped. Ange sighed and then reached into her suit and pulled out a wad of crumpled bills. "What's this?"
"You keep whining about not having enough money." Ange said. "So here, for your troubles. Or do you want more?"
"Don't give me that bullshit!" Rosalie. "I'll kill you!"
"Alright alright!" Ersha trotted over and put her arms over Rosalie's shoulders. "Let's not fight now alright?"
"This behavior is unacceptable." Salia said. "Ange, why can't you follow orders?"
"I'm defeating the DRAGONs, aren't I?" Ange replied. "I'm also honoring my deal with Alain. So, again, what's the problem?"
"That isn't the point!" Salia snapped. "So long as you keep disrupting this squad-"
"Fine me or execute me, whatever suits you." Ange interrupted. "I don't really care."
"Ange!" Salia snapped. Her growl quieted a bit when Alain brushed her arm, the young man shaking his head. "But, Alain!"
"It's not worth it." Alain muttered, though Salia could see the shaking in his arm from his tensed fist. "If she's going to keep acting up, it just needs to be dealt with."
"Yeah, but how?" Salia wished she had some ideas. 'Maybe if something happens again? Something that can be used to convince her… but then there's those three. As long as that keeps up… god this is such a mess.'
Captain's Log, March 4th.
We received a message from outside of Arzenal.
It was a rare time for Arzenal to get outside messages. It only usually happened when Alain was out on a "scouting excursion" and relayed things back. There was a time where this was much more common, but due to circumstances, particularly Jill's refusal to work with CROSS, this was a first in a long time.
"Arrived at the southern edge of Galia." Jasmine read off from the letter they'd received. It was far easier in these times to sneak messages along by mail rather than a digital line, since those were almost always being watched. "Made contact with some of our old friends. Planning to continue recon towards the Empire of Misurugi. I'll be damned, the snot-nosed brat is still alive."
"Tusk." Salia rolled the name over in her head. As she thought about it, a memory came to mind. It was an old one so it was hazy, but she did have some memory of a boy going by that name being in Arzenal at some time. "Oh, right. Wasn't he one of the kids from that time?"
"I'm surprised you remember him after this long." Alain commented.
"It's fuzzy, but I do." Salia responded. "There was plenty of us kids born around that time. I just remember him more than the other boys who left with the others who did back then because, well… he's the son of the Knight of Villkiss of that time, right?"
"Correct." Jill said.
"To think it was him who saved Ange." Maggy commented. "Talk about lucky."
"He must have been the one who fixed up the Villkiss then!" Mei said, Alain nodding.
"You knew where he was this entire time, didn't you?" Jill closed an eye as she looked to Alain, the young man looking to the side. "If you knew why keep it a secret hmm?"
"Because he asked me to." Alain said. "He wanted to lay low and not be too involved, and I'm not the kind to go against my word. So, I kept his location hidden."
"Yet from this message I'm guessing despite that he's been in contact with our old allies on the side." Jasmine added, then smirking at Alain. "You wouldn't also happen to know what that lot is up to as well would you?"
"What CROSS does doesn't concern us." Jill cut Alain off before he could say anything. "They chose to leave Arzenal after the first Libertus, so we have no reason to bother with them. Not after that incident."
"Farbanti wasn't their fault y'know?" Jasmine countered. Jill glared at her. "But I see there's no changing your mind, so I'll keep quiet."
"Good." Jill lit up a cigarette and let a drag out. "Jasmine, you'll be in charge of keeping contact with Tusk. We may need his help soon, but I also want to make sure he doesn't relay anything to CROSS. I don't want them knowing about Villkiss."
"I can tell him not to, but I can't stop him." Jasmine said, Jill huffing. "You can't control everything in the world you know?"
"As for other business…" Jill turned her eyes to Salia. "You want Ange taken off Villkiss?"
"She's gotten even more arrogant than before." Salia said. She did her best to ignore the look Alain was giving her. "Her selfish behavior is going to put the squad at risk eventually. Before that happens-"
"Before that happens," Jill cut in. "the captain should do something about it." Salia gasped a bit at the cutting remark. "You can deal with it. I'm counting on you, Salia."
"Yes, ma'am." Salia could never argue against Jill when she said that. A part of her didn't like it, but, she also didn't want to betray that. If Jill was counting on her, then what else could she even do?
Captain's Log, March 5th.
Everyone is being selfish. It's not like I asked to be captain. Is it too much to ask things to be made a little easier on me?
"This is unacceptable!" The lunchroom's normalcy, once again, felt itself being broken up thanks to Momoka's presence. Though not because of the maid's own antics, rather, Emma's disbelief over the entire situation. "How could a human serve a Norma? Norma are violent, anti-social, uneducated, dirty, mana-less byproducts of society!"
"Yeah yeah." Ange waved Emma off as she finished her food, Momoka taking the tray as Ange pushed it back.
"Momoka, are you aware of what you're doing?" Emma said. "You can't be alright with this can you? And Alain… he hasn't… you know, tried anything?"
"She hasn't offered yet if that's what you mean!" Alain loudly said, Emma shooting him a glare.
"I'm perfectly happy with how things are." Momoka replied. "And Sir Alain hasn't done anything wrongful. In fact, despite his rough attitude, he's surprisingly quite the gentleman."
"Besides if he did try anything, I'd kill him." Ange said. Emma sighed and walked off with her head hung. She'd just have to accept this one as a loss.
"Good on you, Momoka." Vivian said, giving the maid a thumbs up. "You get to stay with Ange!"
"The Inspector hasn't really changed her attitude much huh?" Naomi commented. "Though guess she still singles you out, huh Alain?"
"She actually believes some of those stupid rumors about me." Alain grumbled, stretching his arms out on the table. Alain looked over as Ersha let out a sigh. "What's up Ersha? Pocketbook getting a bit thin?"
"The Festa is coming up soon, right?" Ersha said, closing the check booklet in her hands. "I wanted to arrange some things for the children, but I'm not quite sure I have enough for what I've got planned."
"I told you I'd pitch in with that last night." Alain said.
"And I'm glad you are. But this is about some other things." Ersha replied, Alain humming while the pinkette ruffled his hair.
"The Festa eh?" Naomi hummed. "Glad I woke up in time for that but… ehh, man I'm not gonna be in any shape to participate in the sports events though! Ahh man, and I could really use that prize to shave off a chunk of my debt too!"
"But hey after that you'll be flying with us again won't you?" Vivian asked. "Once you're back in the air I'm sure you'll be earning loads! You're such an awesome pilot!"
"Hehe, thanks Vivi." Naomi ruffled the younger girl's hair, Vivian proudly chuckling. "Though you're pretty awesome too. I've watched you in the Razor, it's awesome you were good enough to be assigned one."
"I know right?" Vivian puffed out her chest and stuck her nose up.
"Naomi, don't make her head any bigger than it is." Alain mused, Naomi sticking the tip of her tongue out at him.
"Unless we do something about Ange, nobody's going to be making any money." Salia said, Ersha nodding.
"What are you doing to do?" Hilda approached with Chris and Rosalie. "She's filthy rich. Whatever punishment you hand her she'll probably just buy her way out of it. Alain practically had to bribe her to get her to listen to him and look where that went! Just face it, it's hopeless."
"What's your point?" Salia bit.
"Hate to say it, but…" Hilda said. "this kind of crap would never have happened when Zola was around. She knew how to make people respect her. If you'd like, I could always take over as captain." Salia narrowed her eyes and walked off without a reply.
"Hilda, that's pretty unfair." Naomi said. "Salia's trying her best. She's not Zola. The last thing she needs is you piling it on."
"What else am I supposed to do?" Hilda said. "You weren't around to see all the trouble that Ange caused. And we have a captain who doesn't have to guts to lay down the law. Maybe she'd like being able to step back from the spot."
"And what, because you'd do better?" Alain said, Hilda snapping towards him. "If you were captain, all you'd do is escalate things. An Naomi's right, cut Salia a bit of slack. Ange isn't an easy case to deal with. I'd know."
"Like the captain of a one-man "squad" has room to talk." Hilda huffed and turned on her heel, Chris and Rosalie watching her go with somewhat bothered looks.
"How long are you two just gonna plod along behind her?" Alain asked, the two other girls turning back around. "I get Hilda bought up all of Zola's assets but come on. I know you two don't hate Ange that much despite your problems with her."
"Well, yeah I don't like the problems she causes." Rosalie said. "But Hilda does have a point don't you think? Salia's barely done anything but chew Ange out. Hasn't she at least gone to the Commander about this?"
"She did, and Jill told her that it's her problem." Alain explained.
"Figures." Chris sighed. "But, we're with Hilda as long as Ange keeps this stuff up. What reason do we have to want to work with her? Alain, you've gotta feel the same, don't you? She gets in your way too!"
"I wouldn't call it getting in my way." Alain said. "Look you two, just give it some thought. I'm not gonna be attached to Garm forever, so you can't keep relying on me to keep Ange in line if she goes too far."
"Yeah we know." Rosalie muttered.
"Rosalie, Chris, what's keeping you?!" Hilda called.
"Coming!" Chris and Rosalie answered as they scurried off.
"Hilda's still got a chip against you eh?" Naomi commented, Alain sighing. "I swear you two are like an old married couple."
"Don't even joke about that." Alain groaned.
"I'm serious." Naomi grinned. "She's always been a tsundere when it comes to you. I even had a bet with Irene in Drake Squad about when you two would end up sleeping together."
"What do you guys mean?" Vivian asked. "Hilda just needs to sleep with Big Bro? Like a slumber party?"
"Uh…" Naomi said with a blush. "Yeah sure go with that."
"I feel like I'm missing something." Vivian said with a frown. "What do you guys do with Big Bro that I can't know about?!"
"Like I said, when you're a bit older." Ersha said.
"I'm gonna go catch up with Salia and make sure she's doing alright." Alain announced, taking off with a speed that rivaled Wyvern in overdrive.
"You know what, I just remembered something!" Naomi also stood up quickly. "I need to finalize some things with Jasmine before I move to the Armorers tomorrow! Talk to you later Ersha!"
"H-Hold on, you two!" Ersha sighed as she was left on her own with a staring Vivian. 'Don't just leave me with her when she's like this!' Then she had an idea of her own. "Ahh! I also have some business! I need to check in on the little ones, so I'll be heading off too!"
"Eh? What?! You're all busy?!" Vivian gasped, staring as Ersha hurried off. Vivian shook her head and then shot after Ersha. "Come on Ersha! Can't you at give me a hint?!"
Captain's Log, March 5th.
Addendum: Underwent psychological maintenance to manage stress.
The constant fighting on Arzenal was a thing that wore on the psyche of the Norma. Salia had seen it a lot over the years. Veteran Norma who either hit the breaking point and took their own lives or allowed the stress to change them completely. Zola had been a prime example of the latter. Once upon a time, her former Captain had been someone Salia admired. She didn't know just what the trigger was, but it was around the time Salia had graduated from reserves that Zola became the shameless hedonist she was now remembered as.
So of course, a necessity was to find ways to relieve that piled on stress through some means or another. Many Norma turned to the more physical kind of relief, venting their emotions to one another and finding solace in more intimate companionship. Something Salia herself had done with Alain. All the better for her too, since Salia was one of the few Norma with little interest in pursuing the same sex. Unfortunately, as much as she wished she could, it wasn't like Salia could monopolize Alain so she had to find additional methods for when he wasn't available. And after that encounter with Hilda in the lunchroom she needed it. Thankfully, Jasmine could always be trusted to keep a secret with a little extra cash thrown her way.
"The usual." Despite the fact Salia did trust Jasmine, she couldn't help but want to look away.
"Use the furthest one down." Jasmine said, gesturing to the changing stalls with her pipe. Making sure nobody was looking, Salia quickly ducked into the stall and secured the curtain behind her. It was unfortunate the changing stalls weren't quite what one could call sound proof, but the buzz of the mall did plenty to drown out excess noise. 'Besides, I don't need anyone finding out about this hobby of mine.' Salia nodded to herself as she pulled the open the package she'd brought from her quarters. It was a good thing she'd ordered a dresser with a secret compartment. Vivian was her roommate and the girl had an inconvenient habit of finding things Salia hid in more conventional places.
"Be taken by the power of love! Making you fall in love! Bishoujo Holy Knight Pretty Salian! Charging right next to you!" Toy wand in hand, and mimicking her favorite poses, Salia couldn't help but giddily smile at herself in the mirror. The cute, frilly pink outfit she so adored from the manga she swore to never let anyone know she actually read despite being "too old" for it. 'Who says you're too old to enjoy something like this?' she thought. "My shining love energy will make you fall in love with me!"
"What in the…?" Salia almost jumped out of her skin when she heard a voice. Snapping around, she saw, to her horror, Alain looking at her through a slight gap in the curtain. 'Why him of all people?!'
"I was uh…" Alain said. "Gonna check up on you but you're clearly busy so…" As he turned, Salia's hand shot from the curtain and yanked him in. "GAGH?!"
"What the hell are you doing?!" Using the toy staff as if it wasa weapon, Salia put Alain against the wall of the stall, the blue-haired young man throwing his hands up in surrender. "Better question, why did you peek?!"
"I heard you yelling something and got worried." Alain stammered. "I thought you might've been having some kind of breakdown but… clearly not." 'Oh god, he totally thinks I'm weird now!' Salia couldn't stop the worry she felt well up in her chest. 'I mean it's not like I haven't worn some outfits in front of him but that was different! This is different!' "Would it be weird for me to say I think you look kinda cute?"
"C-Cute?!" Salia gasped.
"Well I mean I think you're cute in general but yeah." Alain said. "Holy Knight Pretty Lilian, right? Some of the kids like that one and make me read it to 'em." 'Cute…' Salia repeated. 'he thinks I'm cute.' An idea crossed Salia's mind and she grinned darkly.
"Hey Alain…" she whispered. "If I asked you to do something, would you?"
"If I don't have a reason to say no, then yeah." He answered. 'Why do I have a bad feeling?' he wondered. Salia meanwhile licked her lips as she leaned in near his ear when the curtain suddenly flew open and Salia froze as a head of blonde hair was reflected in the mirror.
"Hey there." Alain said. Ange just stared at them for a moment longer and then closed the curtain.
"Can I get another one?" she asked. "This one is being used." 'Whoo boy.' Alain couldn't have cared less. It wasn't like this was the first time he'd been caught in a compromising position with a girl. But Salia was another matter.
"Sh-She… Sh-Sh-She saw me!" Salia shuddered as she sank to her knees. "She knows my secret! Oh what if this gets out?!" Images of Hilda and company laughing wildly flashed across her mind, but perhaps even worse was Jill with nothing but disappointment on her face.
"Look I'll talk to her." Alain tried to assure her. "I'll make sure she never agrees to tell anyone." But the look on Salia's face wasn't telling him she thought he could. 'I'm gonna have to step in before something stupid happens, am I?'
With the day coming to a close, it was as good a time as any for bathing. Ange had gone ahead of the rest since she preferred bathing on her own anyway. Though with Momoka to accompany her now, it did give the former princess a feeling of having some routine od her old life again. She couldn't say she hated it.
"Is this comfortable milday?" Momoka asked as she scrubbed Ange's back.
"You're fine." Ange said. The mirror let her see the door from the showers open. Salia entered, oddly enough still in full uniform. Before either of them could ask what the deal was, Salia was already lunging forward with her knife.
"You're dead!" Leaping to her feet, Ange used the plastic was bin as an impromptu shield to catch the blade.
"What the hell is your problem?!" Ange yelled.
"You saw me!" Salia snapped. "You have to die!"
"I haven't told anyone!"
"You haven't told anyone yet!" Salia dislodged her knife and took a few more swings, Ange dodging and managing to recatch the knife on the bucket.
"Who would I tell?" Ange said. "And not like it matters to me what you do."
"It doesn't… matter?" Salia muttered. Ange seized her moment and yanked the tub aside, sending it and the knife bouncing across the onsen's surface. "You give me so much trouble, and it doesn't even matter to you?! We're supposed to be a team! But every time you just go off on your own!"
"You mean those money-grubbing backstabbers!? Team my ass!" Grabbing Salia by her shirt, Ange monkey flipped her and sent Salia somersaulting into the bath. As she stood up, Ange looked down at her hand realized she was still holding onto Salia's top.
"What the hell's going on?!" As Alain came running in, his look sank as Ange looked back at him, Salia rising out of the water and immediately covering her chest. 'Sometimes I hate being right.'
"Good, you're here." Ange told him. "I want you to listen in to! You never do anything to stop them. The truth is you want me to die too, don't you? I'm not going to get killed by the likes of you. That's why I fight alone."
"How can you be so selfish!?" Salia charged at Ange again, the blonde growling as they grappled each other. "I've had enough!"
"And I've had enough of your crap!" Together, both wound up stumbling into the bath again. Alain, unsure how to even deal with this, just stood there with a twitching eye. 'What can I even do here? Just telling them to stop won't work.'
"First I was forced to be Captain!" Salia yelled between swings. "Then no one listens to me! And then not only did you take Villkiss from me, you saw my secret!" Force it was.
"Dammit break it up!" Alain jumped in, grabbing Salia and Ange by their forearms as they kept swiping. "If you both have things to vent at each other there's better places to do it than here for hell's sake!"
"And what have you done?!" Ange yelled, pulling her arm free. "You're just as bad as her! You could damn well stop those idiots, but you don't do a damn thing!"
"Oh, and like you're helping?!" Alain retaliated. "The only damn reason none of this stops is because you keep acting like this! It's called a two-way street sweetheart! It's not all about you!"
"It's all your fault anyway!" Salia yelled.
"I said cut it out!" Alain tried to stop them again when his foot suddenly slipped on the base of the onsen as Salia's struggling sent him off balance and then right into Ange's chest. The blonde's face went beet red while Salia reeled back in shock. Alain groaned as he shifted back, Ange's look tensing as she covered herself. "Now just hold on…"
"Pervert!" Ange's fist promptly slammed across Alain's face, the boy yelping as he careened to the side and splashed into the pool. Momoka looked around desperately as the two girls went back to fighting while the door opened again and Vivian and Ersha appeared, the former chatting it up as usual.
"See that's why I think minced meat is better than croquettes for curry-Whoa what's going on?!" Vivian gasped, looking down to the groaning Alain as she saw the fighting.
"Oh dear." Ersha said. "What a mess."
"Excuse me!" Momoka begged. "Could you help me stop them please?" Vivian and Ersha looked at each other then to Ange and Salia. Momoka didn't like the giddy smile Vivian showed.
"Don't they know what a bath is for?" Ersha faux wondered. "The least they could do is wash off first." As Alain was regaining his senses, he looked up just in time to see Ersha tossing out a pair of brooms. "Here you go! Have fun kids!" As they left, Vivian also grabbed a hold of Momoka, the maid struggling as she was dragged off.
"Lady Angelise!" Momoka said. "S-Sir Alain, please try and stop them!"
"Ersha what the hell!?" Alain shot up as the two trotted off, turning as Salia and Ange fought with the brooms like they were quarter staffs. "I said to knock it the hell off!" Struggling to his feet, Alain managed to get between them again. But, Ange's foot sprung up from the water and planted itself clean on his chin. Already woozy from the last hit, this one made Alain black out and collapse into the onsen.
"Alain?!" Salia shouted as Alain's eyes glazed over. "You damn muscle pig!"
"Oh shut up microboobs!" And they continued to fight until security came in to break it up.
So of course, the end result was all three of them being dragged to the command center. Emma looked about ready to explode as she looked the three Norma over, Alain ironically looking the worst off despite his minimal involvement thanks to just how hard Ange had hit him. The operators were quietly talking amongst themselves, while Jill just stared through half-lidded eyes with all the air of a disappointed parent.
"Do you need to fight in the base too?" Emma demanded.
"Hey, I was trying to break it up." Alain pointed out.
"Quiet you!" Emma snapped, Alain looking towards the ceiling. "Ugh, this is why I can't stand working with Norma."
"This kind of behavior is unlike you, Salia." Jill noted, Salia looking to the side.
"Not like it matters." Salia grumbled. Alain outright blanched when Emma slapped a thick stack of papers onto the console in front of the three.
"Fifty pages of repentance essays, each." Emma said. "By tomorrow morning."
"Ma'am." Salia curtly replied while Alain and Ange were slower in giving the salute. 'Why do I have to do this too?' both thought, Ange's thoughts being punctuated by a small buzz at her nose, giving a small sneeze a moment later. 'Oh what the hell?' she thought.
Momoka hummed to herself as she pushed a cart of handmade breakfast into Ange's room. While the facilities in Arzenal weren't quite what the maid would have preferred, a kitchen was a kitchen and she was not one to let such things go to waste. Last night may have been hectic, but in the end Momoka could supposed it turned out alright.
"Good morning, Lady Angelise!" Momoka greeted her still sleeping mistress. "I brought you breakfast again. I also finished your essay last night, so no need to worry there." What was odd was the lack of response. Momoka figured that thanks to the rather fast nature of Arzenal, Ange had become an early riser so the silence Momoka got was confusing to say the least. Even back in Misurugi she would always wake up when called upon without fail. "Lady Angelise?"And Momoka got her answer as she leaned in closer. Ange's breathing was labored, and her face was burning red to match the fever radiating from her brow.
"A cold?!" Vivian's outcry summed up Garm Squadron's morning briefing. It wasn't like hearing a squad member being on the bench for a while was uncommon, but on Arzenal it was downright unheard of for it to be because someone got sick. Least of all because any pilot worth their salt knew it was better to hedge their bets and avoid anything that could bench them that was at least within their control. It was one thing when someone was in the infirmary due to injuries fighting DRAGONs. It was another when they caught a fever due to some shenanigans in the bath.
"Because of it, Ange is going to be on standby until the fever goes down." Salia explained. "Until then, we'll be continuing our normal missions without her."
"Hey, remind me how much you lose on break." Rosalie chirped up.
"One million cash per-day." Salia stated.
"Haha, poor little her!" Hilda cackled, looking all too pleased at the turn of events.
"Ohh, I wonder if she'll go bankrupt!" Chris snickered.
"Maybe this'll at least mean you three can cool the hell off." Alain grumbled, still with some bandages on his face because of last night.
"Now now, no need to feel grumpy because you got knocked out by a girl." Hilda crowed. "At least you got a face full of her boobs."
"Hilda, if you want to start something, we can take this to the mat right now." The others backed away a bit as lightning shot between the two. At least that stayed unchanged.
"Both of you, enough." Salia said. "Training starts in 0100!"
Captain's Log, March 6th.
Training continues without incident. Without the presence of Ange, the squadron's discipline has also seemed to return to normal. Hopefully I'll be able to use this chance to find some way to maintain this once Ange returns to duty.
Casualties today: Zero.
