An age-old question that any Kansen would have asked at least once in their existence was why their vessels had all the components necessary for keeping a crew. It was a redundant part of them, none of their core functions, mainly being either used for fighting or transporting goods, needed human hands to do their job.
Reloading her main batteries, and sending out signals to even navigation were all done by just the Kansen alone, thus making the need for things such as crew quarters and large mess halls entirely useless for the often sole occupant of the ship. And yet, ships designed entirely for Kansen, which deleted the need for crew areas were always soundly rejected by Wisdom Cubes, even for priority research ships. The core tenants of anyone designing one of those 'blueprint' ships as they were, had to include among other things, sufficient crew amenities as if they were designing a regular warship, crewed by human hands.
Thus, every single Kansen Ruby knew of could in theory, be entirely manned by a crew even if it was a complete waste of manpower and an active hindrance to the Kansen. They were better off being served in manned transports or even far away from the battlefield entirely, safe and secure in their fortified ports. She had heard of a few occasionally conducting transport duties, usually only when no other transport was available or it was a desperate situation. No one wanted to use them for something as mundane and unimportant as that, the frontlines needed them above all else most of the time.
Ruby, or even Ulrich for that matter, never had a crew. Some of the earliest Kansen who had converted hulls did remember having them, but they were few and far between. So, for the first time, the others on her hull weren't fellow Kansen, but rather, people.
Humans, and by Oum, it was annoying.
"No, Neo, I will not let you 'shoot' the main guns, even if you ask nicely."
Ruby ignored the loud stomp coming from the two-toned girl's boots, instead focusing her attention entirely on the experimental bullhead being raised by crane onto her hull. Usually, the crane would have been operated by dozens of men, each making sure that the process went smoothly, from an outsider's perspective however, the crane and the various cranks were being automatically wound up. Not unlike the automated processes seen in Atlesian technology, but much less advanced in view, giving it a somewhat eerie sight. It was essentially seeing all the actions that should have been attributed to human motions, only with the human part entirely missing.
Neo, not giving up on her childish desire, shoved another message right in front of Ruby with her scroll.
'I'll aim it at the water! No one will even notice anything!'
"Everyone within dozens of kilometres of us will hear the blast, which will be the opposite of keeping quiet."
'You promised me a ride on the bullhead!' Neo wasted no time in typing out a new message, still eager to get something out of this experience. One would think that after that ordeal she would have been awed into submission like the rest of them, but Neo was not anyone within the realms of normality so that point was moot for her.
"You got a ride, remember? It was your partner who crashed it, not mine." Pointing that fact out only elicited a bigger pout from Neo, who was trying to glare her into giving in. Knowing her personality, if she wanted something, usually related to some amount of violence involved, Neo got it, no matter what she had to do. Sighing, Ruby arced her head to look at an Anti-Aircraft platform above her, containing a manned Flak gun.
"I'll let you shoot one of the small Flak guns, only when we're out on open seas."
Neo took a look at the Anti-Aircraft gun she was talking about, and after a noticeable look of disappointment, nodded with less enthusiasm. She walked away after that, before shooting her an expectant look, telling Ruby to uphold that agreement. Just as Neo left the decks, the bullhead was completely secured, through some clever rope management and chains keeping it in place, they were ready to set off now.
Before firing up her propellers, however, she took stock of where the guests on her hull were. Neo was the last one to remain with her outside, having since gone into the superstructure, probably hoping to find Roman, currently wandering the seemingly endless halls of her lower deck, scratching his head at the surreal nature of his situation.
The Malachite twins, actually having had enough excitement for one day were guided to the mess halls by Ruby, using blinking lights to show them the way. They were currently sitting at a table, blinking at their surroundings and each other over what was currently happening.
Then her last guest, Ensign Anikanov, seemed to be the most well-adjusted one out of everyone else right now. She was currently making her way down the lower decks, clearly having experience with navigating ships, slowly but surely heading towards vital areas such as the machinery rooms. Curiosity perhaps? Or a desire to acquire information about Ruby herself?
Whatever it may be, the watertight doors leading to important bulkheads were sealed shut, not that she could have gone inside anyways. Or actually, should Ruby let her in? It would have made her even more confused, seeing as how it was literally just a regular engine room, albeit running on a foreign and alien power. Not that Anikanov would have guessed that, still, something to think about, especially regarding what she should do with her in the future.
Five souls on her hull right now, each wandering around with a mixture of curiosity, fear and uncanny awe. A scant few hours ago Ruby would have never guessed this was how her night would go, but, as more things changed, some things stayed the same. Because Neo was currently making a beeline towards one of her secondaries, probably trying to get inside of the turret.
Even if she did get in, the ammunition had to be fed up via the magazine, thus rendering her efforts useless. Ruby did briefly consider dissuading her from it, but she soon realized it was a great distraction, letting Neo wander around unaccompanied may be an ever bigger risk after all.
With every one of her 'crew' sufficiently accounted for, Ruby made her way up to the bridge, checking that there were no obstacles in her planned route. In lieu of modern navigation systems, or a connection to relays along popular routes, one had to use the oldest form of navigation to travel.
Any Navigation Officer knew how to travel by stars, looking up at the night sky with only an instrument, he could, in theory, know exactly where they were, or at least, know which direction to go. Modern equipment could fail, electronics could encounter interference, a catastrophic fire could damage them entirely, or even being stranded on a lifeboat were all situations in which celestial navigation was needed.
Today, she was blessed with a clear sky, no clouds, and very visible stars. Perhaps Þórr saw fit to give his blessings to her today, or it may even have been a simple case of clear weather. Regardless of the reasons, everything was ready for them to begin. Slowly, but surely, she felt the familiar thrum of her engines firing up, rotating the shaft of her propellers gradually. Keeping an eye on her speedometer, she knew by instinct what her speed was, but seeing it tick upwards with her sight made her more reassured.
One, to three, to five, to seven and then to nineteen knots. Just under regular cruising speed, it took a few minutes, manoeuvring such a large vessel was not the same as changing directions on a speedboat, careful care and precision had to be maintained, lest anything, or in this case, anyone broke.
Route planned and executed, she continued to keep an eye on her surroundings for any unwanted guests, as well as keeping her radar on so that no repeats of that fishing boat incident could happen again. Satisfied after another couple of minutes, she estimated that their arrival back to Vale would be sometime around Dawn, five or six hours if she didn't have to evade patrols.
With any luck, Yang and her father would be sleeping in when she snuck back into her room, pretending to have had a good night's rest. Speaking of home, she began thinking about what to make for breakfast tomorrow morning when she became aware of Melanie and Militia poking around her pantry, trying to find something to eat or drink. Realising that after that whole ordeal energy was spent, and stomachs probably asking for some kind of sustenance, Ruby made her way down to her lower decks, directly to the mess hall where the twins took up residence.
Though she usually didn't keep a lot of food on hand, there were times when smuggling jobs took long routes, and thus some food was indeed needed. Taking stock of her inventory, the only things she had were frozen beef, onions, potatoes, carrots and rice…
Wait, there was also that Vacuoan spice mixture she received as a gift after a job well done by an importer in Vale who didn't want to pay the exorbitant tariffs set by the council. If she remembered correctly, the Royal Navy, due to their Dominions and far-off lands they 'owned' had access to her world's best and most varied spices. In particular, there was a dish that they served quite often to their sailors, even if it was a pale mockery of that dish from the land it originated from.
Well, considering all that, she could whip up that special dish quickly, and without too much hassle.
"Naval curry…naval curry…where did I learn that recipe from?"
Wait a minute, was it even from the Royal Navy? Where did that dish come from?! Ruby did not know, all she could vaguely remember was someone teaching it to her long ago at a naval base, not in Ironblood, but somewhere else she could not remember. She spent the rest of the journey trying to remember, but nothing came to mind.
Automation was nothing new to Roza, it having been present in the Atlesian armed forces since she joined. Though proponents of the system were opposed by figures in the armed forces, officers such as her father within the officer ranks for example, the alternative still won out, the reasons why that did dependent on personal opinion. Special interests? A desire to reduce manpower dependency? The perception that machines were more reliable than humans? All potentially playing a role, but the end result was that the Atlesian armed forces were well on their way to becoming entirely automated.
Ships were still manned, albeit with a fraction of the crew they once needed. Boilers using fire dust didn't need to be manned by dozens of crew when only half a dozen were needed to supervise the automated process it underwent with occasional repairs. Not to say Atlas didn't have seafaring warships, but those positions were not particularly sought after, the airships were where every new officer with any sense of climbing up the ranks went.
However, trade-offs notwithstanding, there were things that the 'older' ships had over the newer airships. Armour, firepower and the fact that they weren't going to fall to the ground if their engines got taken out. Not that she would ever admit it, but it was a fear of heights that partially motivated her to take up a design ministry position. Besides, she grew up with seafaring ships all her life, not those airships.
Thus, she felt a weird sense of deja vu moving around the halls of…Hutten. She still didn't know what to call her, Roza knew Hutten's real name but did not say it due to a strong desire to not get on her bad side. Checking the map on the wall next to her, she was somewhere between bulkheads right now, having passed by what appeared to be storage and crew quarters. All were essentially empty of course, despite the bedding and other amenities appearing to be fully stocked.
She honestly expected to see some sort of crew when she first boarded the battleship, but as Hutten had said, she had no crew. Climbing up to the decks had revealed no one, not a single soul except for the kidnappers with her. It was a true 'ghost ship' if she had to describe it, though maybe not as eerie as some media depictions have made before. The ship was not dilapidated, haunted (hopefully) or even deserted, it was like the crew had simply disappeared, leaving everything in a neat state. She had seen ships that were mothballed before, left in a preserved state just in case they were needed again; Hutten was not a ship like that. It was active and ready for action.
Truthfully, she wondered why Hutten allowed her to roam around, she half expected to get escorted to the brig immediately upon boarding. The last she saw of her was on the decks, where the prototype bullhead was being-
"There you are."
"AAAAAA-"
Yelping and jumping in surprise like a surprised house cat, Roza found herself ambushed by Hutten as she rounded a corner, having heard nothing of her approach at all.
"Come, I've made some food, everyone is at the mess hall already."
"Whagh-I don't, wait, shouldn't you be steering the ship?!" Remembering that they were currently underway, Roza's thoughts organized themselves into remembering that she was talking to Hutten, who she thought was on the bridge and steering the battleship, not down on the lower decks, where she couldn't see anything.
"I am steering the ship, we just passed by a lighthouse." Hutten's reply did not make things any clearer for Roza, who just stared at her with a bigger intensity.
"But, we're two levels below deck, how are you seeing outside-"
"Don't worry about it, we'll make it back to Vale. Come on, I don't trust Roman to have waited for us."
All Roza could really do was just follow her, not like she was in a position to demand answers anyway. It was similar to interacting with her superiors, only this time the power dynamics were of a different nature. After following her for a minute, Hutten suddenly stopped in front of her, having just gone into a larger open area, not far from the officer's quarters.
"Your shoes, are they wet?"
"Huh? I mean, yeah, kinda got flooded when you brought out your hull…" Since stepping foot onto the battleship, every step she took was punctuated by a slight squishing sound, between her wet socks and boots it was very much audible in the vast, empty hallways.
"Follow me." Doing as she was told, again, no way to refuse, Roza followed Hutten. At the very least she didn't seem to be leading her towards an early grave, for a moment back then she thought they were to be blown out of the sky when Torchwick 'negotiated'.
Cutting through a crew area, they arrived at what appeared to be a corner shop, selling all sorts of old-style goods. Canned foods, chocolates, candies to even cigarettes were all neatly packed in unfamiliar packaging. They resembled styles seen right before the Great War in Mantle but with unfamiliar writing and text. The shelves were all neatly organized, and fully stocked, just like the well-kept crew quarters she saw on the way.
"What's your size?" Hutten went behind the counter, and into what appeared to be a storage room filled with boxes.
"Oh, I'm uh…" Roza didn't remember it, thus leaving her mouth hanging as Hutten fished out a cardboard box and placed it on the counter.
"Here, these should fit nicely." Placing a pair of socks down as well, Hutten opened the box, revealing a crisp and brand-new pair of boots. Roza would describe them as vintage, entirely out of style today, but quite stylish, it even looked like real leather. Now that she had a better look, there were even uniforms in the storage closet behind her, ones she did not recognize at all.
Sitting down on a nearby bench, she removed her wet pair of shoes in favour of brand new ones, finding that they fit nicely, exactly as Hutten had said they would. No, she was not dreaming, she really did see a whole battleship appear from thin air, the hard leather boots she wore now were evidence of it. Taking a deep breath, she decided that her curiosity had to be sated before it burst out, the area they were in good as any to do so. This was actually similar to when they went shopping in Vale, the first time they met.
"What are you? I've worked with ships my entire life, nothing comes close to what I've seen so far. It's like you're…are you a spirit? The Battleship itself?"
Hutten found that question amusing, judging by how she let out an amused huff at Roza. "You're not the first one to ask me this. Brave, too, considering you are my prisoner right now."
"Shouldn't I be in a brig, then? Didn't you come to ask me to get food as well? I don't know anyone who would treat a prisoner like that."
"Maybe I'm a different kind of warden. Make no mistake, if I deemed you a threat to me you would have gone overboard already, the seas around these parts are infested with aquatic Grimm, especially during nightfall. I trust you would not want to find out?"
The image of being fed to a horde of Pirahstalkers was enough to make Roza instantly shut her mouth, being extra careful now with her next words.
"You're familiar with warships, I know. Maybe for more modern ones, but judging by how you knew roughly which part of the ship you were in, I guess that you were trying to find more information about me, am I wrong?"
"Uh…it's…more for my curiosity?" It was a weak response, but an accurate one. Not every day were you able to see a still functioning Battleship in Remnant up close and personal, even if it was acting as a prison for her right now.
"Hm. And? What is your conclusion? What am I in your eyes?" Hutten asked, crossing her arms as she waited for an answer.
"I…I don't know, everything would have made sense if you had a crew, but it's empty. We're the only ones onboard right now. Did you once have one? If you have a slop chest, that means it once serviced a crew, right?"
Hutten did not answer, instead looking at Roza with a blank expression.
"...never had a crew…"
An odd, melancholic expression was then shown on Hutten's face as if she was remembering something else entirely. It was only for a brief moment, however, as she turned to look back at Roza again. "We're wasting time, the others are there already, let's not have the curry go cold."
Handing the box over to Roza, she stuffed her wet boots and socks inside of it, before following along behind Hutten. Passing by a dozen different paths she didn't know were there before, they arrived at a large mess area, probably able to feed dozens, just one of many such mess halls on the ship. A ship of Hutten's size probably held more than two thousand crew if in fighting condition, just thinking about the logistics alone made Roza's head spin.
As she said, everyone else was already there, surprisingly waiting for them to come back. While Hutten went off to the kitchen, she took a seat at the big table the others were at, sitting a considerable distance away from the dangerous…fellow passengers. The two-toned one in particular called Neopolitan gave her an unsettling grin, making her spine shiver involuntarily.
"Behave, Neo, she a passenger just like you are." That unsettling feeling was broken by none other than Hutten herself, coming back out with a large pot of curry and a pot of cooked rice. Feeling her stomach rumble, Roza had not actually eaten anything for quite some time, having been unceremoniously dragged to participate in the special reconnaissance mission under Specialist Schnee.
"Actually, why is she here instead of your brig? I know you have one, Red!" Roman pointed out, Roza having last seen him going deeper inside of the ship.
"Careful, Roman, I trust you have not forgotten the terms you agreed to. I can and will cast you adrift on a lifeboat, or dispense with that entirely and just throw you overboard. What I do with her is my business alone, you can sit somewhere else if you take offence." Roman settled down with a grumble after that, clearly having the desire to ask more questions, but considering one of the terms she made them agree to was 'no disputes' with her command, Roza quietly kept her mouth shut. And also that no one was to question what she just did, under threat of being ditched, or be shelled by her main batteries if her existence was exposed later on.
"Pah, I'll talk to you later…" The Bowler hat thief stood up, but not before grabbing a bowl of curry and rice along with him. He sat on another table, far away on the other side of the mess hall. Not long after, Roza was passed a bowl of curry herself, just smelling it made her stomach rumble again, and she didn't hesitate in spooning a perfect ratio of rice, curry sauce and beef into her mouth.
It tasted divine , the rich aroma, unique spice blend, and most importantly, the care taken to make it…reminded her of home. Of simpler days, when her mother made Solyanka for dinner, eating it together along with her father, coming home from a long deployment. Or it was the hunger talking, either way, she did not hesitate in wolfing it down, the others around her doing something similar.
"We're five hours to Vale, until then, try not to make a mess. You can find a bed in the crew areas if you want it." Hutten said, though how many heard her clearly was another matter. She left soon after, heading off in the direction of the bridge, leaving everyone in the mess hall to finish their meals.
"Heeey, aren't those shoes new? Where'd you get them?" The two twins, Mela..Mala…something scooted right over next to Roza, both of their gazes at the new, real leather boots she had on.
"Oh…uh…I got it from h-her? There's a store on the officer's area with a bunch of-" Before she even stopped talking, the twins were gone, off in the direction that she had arrived in not long ago.
"Come on Neo! We're not gonna let them beat us to free stuff!" Roman took off soon after, followed by Neo, hot on the twin's heels. Wait a minute, was it free? Even on Atlesian airships those things were usually bought by deducting pay…
"But…they aren't free…are they?"
There was no quartermaster present, so was it really not free? Besides, Hutten never mentioned anything about taking stuff from the ship, a few goodies for herself wouldn't hurt either, especially after that whole ordeal she experienced. Fishing the last of her curry, she too stood up, making her way back to the slop chest she just left, hoping to snag an officer's scarf she saw back there.
AN:
A slop chest, or 'ship's store' is where crew usually bought personal amenities such as toothbrushes or snacks. Though sometimes it also does sell uniforms, such as the one on HMS Belfast, go visit it if you're ever in London. Virtually every modern warship big enough has one, if particularly big, there may even be multiple stores to fulfil any needs of a crew. Also, definitely not free, so Ruby may have something to say about that.
Be civil in the comments below.