Chapter 76: Renewal (Part 1)

"Well, it's not quite Azur lane…"

"Tis' actually a fair bit smaller."

"We have less to put on it?"

"Well if even half the itinerary Akashi, Essex and I-13 have put in for arrives then we might just need a second island after all…"

Richelieu silently listened to the ongoing conversation between her sisters, simultaneously ashamed yet relieved at being able to hear the steady and cheerful cadence of her fellow Shipgirls rather than the cold, impartial droning that had dominated her mind for so long.

…Three weeks felt more like a dream than it did reality, the Cardinal honestly expecting a soulless machine to suddenly drag her from this warm heaven and consign her once more to dull nightmare-

"Cardinal? Having overseen many a fine bit of architecture in your homeland have you any input to add to our future home?"

She snapped out of her downward spiral, meeting Vampire's knowing but sympathetic gaze as she forced herself to calmly answer, "It may need a considerable amount of work but there exists room aplenty for a modest chapel, perhaps overlooking the sands? An open air congregation may be an intriguing prospect…"

Giving the Destroyer a brief but grateful nod the Iris Shipgirl took a deep, steadying breath and reminded herself that for all of her troubles and worries it was Algérie that had it far worse than her. Her poor comrade had been under the thrall of the Old Sirens and forced to kill their own, the blood on her hands not likely to be washed away anytime soon regardless of whether she had been responsible for her actions or not.

"Hey, at least the beachfront property is going to be awesome! It sure beats the north, that's for sure!"

"My poor ears were cold all the time…"

Spirits raised by the unquenched and eternal enthusiasm of I-26 and I-25 Richelieu felt her lips ever so slightly tilt upwards, Vampire broadly gesturing to the sandy shores of a modestly sized strip of land - maybe a third the size of the Azur Lane she remembered - that had been granted by the Caribbean government in the wake of their announcement to construct a new Azur Lane installation.

…What remained of said government, at any rate. Island nations had not fared well during the Siren's initial war unless they had significant military forces present and the gesture was more symbolic than anything, as no one was living there currently. In fact she wouldn't be surprised if Azur Lane was quickly granted more and more territory, the initial granting merely an attempt at seeming relevant.

"Let us depart for the shores of our new home~! Come, sisters!"

Sundress fluttering in the wind Vampire eagerly leapt from the edge of Essex's patrolling hull, I-26 brightly laughing as she tugged on Richelieu's arm, exclaiming, "Hey, c'mon! If you're going to build a big ol' church or something then you need to see where it'll go!"

"D-don't be so pushy, 26!"

Now openly smiling at the sub's irrepressible cheer the Battleship allowed herself to be tugged over the side of the vessel, the air briefly whistling by in a familiar rush before the comforting embrace of the waves beneath her feet pushed back, the Cardinal's eyes traversing the length of the beach and finding a number of her sister's already playing or relaxing in the sun, finally - after uncountable years of fighting - being given an actual vacation that had been outwardly disguised as a survey operation.

Much to her relief she spotted Algérie resting underneath a tree, Jean Bart, Émile, Jeanne and Le Malin flanking her as the Cruiser's eyes met Richelieu's, a brief nod shared between them as the Cardinal's opposite finally seemed to be somewhat at ease with herself.

…Although perhaps that was merely a consequence of the impossibly tranquil atmosphere they found themselves in, Le Malin bonelessly sprawled across a hammock and no doubt catching up on several years worth of missed sleep, Bart sipping on a cocktail and simply watching the drifting clouds as Émile and Jeanne sunbathed, the dancer predictably forgoing any kind of clothing to ensure as even a tan as possible while Jeanne had elected to keep her swimsuit on, Richelieu having half a mind to lecture the free spirited Cruiser on having some level of restraint before deciding it wasn't worth it, instead noticing the eager expressions on the pair of subs as they saw I-13, Tashkent and Aegir ganging up on Chao Ho and Ying Swei amidst the waves, one of the Empery cruisers predictably handling the splash assault with…less than graceful composure.

"Go on, enjoy yourselves."

"But-"

"She said it was fine, so let's go, 25~!"

"Eh?!"

The pink-haired Sakura was yanked along before I-26 heroically dragged her sister into an epic showdown with the other Shipgirls as the Empery pair's reinforcements, Richelieu noticing August lazing atop her Rigging near the action, no doubt having been called over to referee at some point and just as quickly using it as an excuse to relax.

"You don't wish to join them?"

"Oh I shall, but I desire to see how my beloved looks in swim attire before doing so, eh heh heh…come, come~!"

Now relegating herself to being guided by Vampire the Cardinal glanced around the island as they traversed through it, noting that it was a fairly defensible locale. The beach lead to a series of moderate cliffs with narrow pathways while the interior had some hills and valleys with a modest number of flat plains, ensuring buildings could be both built into defensible terrain while also having room for airfields.

"Oh Alexander~!"

One such plain was attended by a number of figures that ran the gamut of appearance and temperament, the Cardinal recognizing the forms of both Nagato and Elizabeth, both seeming slightly out of place as they had picked more relaxed clothing than their usual mantles, the Royal Navy regent sporting a parasol and white one piece while Nagato had adorned a frilly bikini, absent their usual attendants as the focus of Vampire's attention himself stood high above them, Richelieu having a hard time picturing the giant before her with a floral shirt and loose shorts as the same one clad in fearsome armor that had ripped apart the machines subsuming her will, a happy smile on his lips as he saw their approach, Vampire breaking out into a gleeful sprint before wrapping her arms around his neck with a peck on the lips to cap things off, Richelieu briefly wondering if that was a bit too forward before deciding it wasn't any of her business what her savior did with someone precious to him.

"Enough with silly foreplay, do feast thine eyes upon my swimsuit~!"

The Cardinal decided it might be her business when Vampire tossed aside her sundress, revealing a positively scandalous collection of fabric strips that left almost nothing to the imagination, the Battleship scarcely able to comprehend how someone decided it was worth the effort to create.

"You know, Vampire, I think I like this almost as much as I like seeing you wear nothing at all."

"Oh hoh~?"

The Destroyer spun on her heel, flashing her posterior - fabric practically vanishing between her arse in the process - before teasing, "What fine compliments, perchance I shall-"

"AHEM!"

Eye twitching in irritation Elizabeth pointedly commented, "Is there not something you should attend to on the beach, oh subject of mine?"

"Very well, your majesty. I shall allow you to further monopolize Alexander's time. Feel free to swing by mine cabin tonight, Alexander~!"

The Destroyer darted forward and planted a highly suggestive kiss right above the male's groin, skipping away with a cheerful hum as Elizabeth fumed in place, Richelieu marveling at the strange yet seemingly functional community that had sprung up around the man as his eyes landed on where she stood nearby, the Shipgirl abruptly standing straight and pulling her chin up, trying to ignore the brief flush of embarrassment that colored her skin.

Her own swimwear was a great deal more reserved than some of her other sisters but it was still…exposing.

"Holding up alright, Cardinal?"

"You do not need to ascribe to me any higher standing, Alexander. You have earned that right several times over."

The words spilled out unbidden, the woman inclining her head as the Aloadae awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, Nagato amusedly flicking her ears at the scene before kindly inquiring, "Are you well, Cardinal Richelieu? It has not been long since you were freed from those accursed machines and such a burden cannot have been easy to bear."

Inclining her head the Iris woman responded, "Thank you for your concern, Lady Nagato. But these implants have made the situation…"

Her hand lightly brushed across her neck, the phantom sensation of a pulsating link of emotion ever ready to be accessed should she need it as alien as it was reassuring.

"Much more tolerable, suffice to say."

"That is most gratifying to hear. Always remember that Amagi and Shinano have also experienced such a trial and would be more than happy to converse if that is of any interest."

"I appreciate your words, Empress."

"Can we get back on topic? Our Empress wasn't exaggerating in the slightest when it comes to your proclivity towards excessive conversation."

"Considering your word choice there as opposed to 'shut up and get back on topic' I'm gonna go ahead and call bullshit on that, Compiler."

Richelieu felt her blood run cold as a Neo Siren drifted out from where she had been hidden by Alexander's bulk, the lithe and pale-skinned woman seated on a small metallic creature that resembled a hermit crab, the Iris Shipgirl almost calling up her Rigging if it wasn't for the Aloadae's brief squeeze of her arm as she released a slow breath, letting her fight or flight go with it.

"Setting aside her bad attitude - which seems pretty common to all Neo Sirens, unfortunately - Compiler here is helping us figure out the information and record keeping aspects of the future base."

"An odd way of showing your thanks for this rather thankless task."

[Ignore her, Master.]

TB's image sprung to life from a small projector attached to the machinery dotting Alexander's back, the AI bluntly stating, [She is just frustrated because she is bloated with copious amounts of data and wishes to offload it onto a more permanent and physical medium sooner rather than later.]

"Remind me to delete you later, TB."

Ignoring the Neo Siren's annoyed growl Richelieu forced herself to act normal, smoothly inquiring, "If you intend to make use of the Neo Siren's capabilities in this construct then there must be significant plans for it moving forward, yes?"

"Right on the money. You ever hear of the internet, Cardinal?"

Slowly shaking her head the Aloadae merely nodded, remarking, "Well you might as well get used to it, we're going to have a lot of big societal changes on the horizon thanks to it."

Muttering almost to himself he added, "Although the technological timeline is massively fucked…seriously, skipped the internet and went straight to AI that will then implement the internet? This is going to be a nightmare."

Electing to not comment on the ominous words the Iris Battleship instead decided to engage Elizabeth and Nagato in conversation, feeling some of the perpetual ice thaw from her veins as she managed to be useful and diligent in forming ideas or scenarios for the future Azur Lane.

She may have suffered a grave indignity and shamed her faction but that was no excuse to give up trying.

Practice what she preached, as it were.

[-and will be formed around the basis of a new Azur Lane, whose construction has already begun. Representatives who survived the Starfall or were in line for various administrative posts will resume their activities as best they can, Azur Lane will send instruction and guidelines to these agencies as soon as they're available. Before he was killed in action The Commander wished that Alexander Curtis, due to his heroic actions and increased knowledge with Siren capabilities and technologies, be granted control of Azur Lane. Due to the restructuring that control will not come with as many powers as it once did-]

"Congratulations, Alexander-sama."

"Indeed, you have moved up in the world quite impressively, Master Alexander."

"I'd feel better about this if I wasn't so abjectly terrified."

Despite his dry words the male couldn't help but find his gaze wandering over the bevy of beauties currently gracing his eyes, lightly licking his lips. Sure, he'd already been interacting with the Shipgirls on the island before this but a few hours in the sun as they all were moving around and generally being active had made them…shiny, to use a simplified word.

"Our eyes and mouths are up here, Herr Alexander~..."

"I was being nothing but respectful, Eugen."

"Thank you, sunglasses."

The Ironblood Cruiser merely sent him a knowing smirk as she reclined in a nearby hammock, soft skin practically glowing with a mix of sweat and sunscreen as she made a show of stretching her arms high overhead, softly moaning as the Aloadae made sure to hunch forward slightly, just to give himself a bit of buffer room in case he started showing 'rising interest'.

A skimpy black bikini was exactly what the doctor ordered.

Matters weren't helped by Amagi, Shinano, Kawakaze, Warspite and Belfast also sharing the same airspace, his brain essentially fried with hormones at the beauty on display. The foxes wore one pieces in mixtures of white, red and blue that hugged their bodies very tightly, Warspite and Kawakaze in black bikinis with short shorts - no doubt in a desperate attempt to seem that they weren't entirely on vacation - while Belfast had gone with a shockingly risque option that was essentially two hoops fitted over her shoulders and nothing else, the ensemble no doubt intended to draw a certain someone's gaze.

And it was working, Enterprise's furtive glances from where she was crouched next to Essex and Akashi a short distance away carrying more than a few blushes that had nothing to do with the blazing sun, the carrier's black one piece no doubt feeling conservative in comparison.

"My Liege, while I know that some of us are doing their utmost to distract you-"

A sour glare was directed Eugen's way, the other woman as unrepentant as ever as she made a whole damn theatrical appearance of stretching out her legs next, the toned and luscious limbs raised high overhead and showcasing her ass as the Royal Navy Shipgirl fumed at the sight.

"I'm gonna find a way to have those thighs wrapped around my waist by the time this trip is over. I think I've earned that much from all of this crap."

Reveling in the fantasy - that was likely to turn into reality at the first given opportunity - he instead gave Warspite a fond kiss on the head, the Battleship predictably flushing at the affectionate action and losing her train of thought as Shinano asked, "Are we not to inspect…the potential factories?"

"Yeah, but we're also here to have fun."

"A certain variety of fun, it seems."

Belfast's suggestive comment and teasing smirk had the Aloadae rolling his eyes, Shinano seeming to either miss or not care about the innuendo as she merely folded her arms before her, squishing her already significant bust in a way the male couldn't decide was intentional or not, Amagi reciprocating the motion with a more self-aware smile as they strode to where their three remaining comrades were hunched over, Eugen yawning as she lazily joined them.

"...also have to worry about structural integrity and ventilation, soil looks good but we'll still need to be careful, nya."

"Agreed. And how far down should we dig? We've surveyed up to fifty feet but there's still a significant amount to go…"

The group approached, Alexander unable to help but chuckle at the complicated schematics Essex and Akashi were carving into the dirt with oversized and brightly covered toys that had probably been intended to create sandcastles rather than heavily fortified bunkers.

"I would ordinarily say that the two of you should be having fun instead of working but I know better than that by now."

"We get to design a facility from the ground up, nya! Who wouldn't be having fun?"

Enterprise turned an intriguing shade of pink as Belfast embraced her from behind in a rather forward manner, Essex smirking as she stated, "A certain sister of mine, that's who."

"Ahh, at last the famed Gray Ghost finds herself under fire of a kind she is ill prepared to deal with."

Eyes flickering back and forth in a desperate plea for help as Belfast clearly wasn't about to stop hugging her tight Alexander eventually elected to save Enterprise's ass, asking, "So what's the initial plan looking like, are we gonna be able to build onsite? I was planning to have the factories constructed on the Union mainland but if we don't have to do that then all the better."

The engineering duo rose to their feet with clear enthusiasm, preparing their lecture and affording the Aloadae yet another opportunity to admire extremely fine looks with zero shame whatsoever. Essex wore a somewhat racy purple one piece that was a nice fit for the Carrier while Akashi had a frilly yellow one, naturally adorned with tools and electronics to just cement what her preferred brand of entertainment was.

"While we haven't gotten proper geological readings back from anything below fifty feet what we have found is promising, enough so that we could feasibly construct a great deal of the factories and other fabrication facilities you've talked about."

"And get this, nya!"

Akashi enthusiastically waved her arm over a swirled design, seemingly connecting two different levels of the hypothetical base.

"Even if the soil is bad in some places but good in others we also have a way to easily connect them without more digging! We've been talking with TB and she thinks that we can maybe use that teleportation whatever the Old Sirens were using to connect different parts of the base! Our own space highway or something, nya!"

Blankly staring at the design Alexander resisted the urge to sigh, reminding himself for the millionth time that he really should start getting used to the mad scientists taking like fish to water with future tech.

"Let's start with how we're going to power this monstrosity and make sure we don't have any industrial accidents beneath where we're walking, alright?"

The conversation quickly turned into an enthusiastic mishmash of ideas and theorycrafting, the Shipgirls clearly liking the idea of being able to design the construct from the ground up, literally.

Kawakaze had told him that while the Shipgirls had been given a great deal of leeway in how they wanted to decorate their dorms and occasional tract of unused land at the old Azur Lane it had originally been a research and military base before anything else, some of that stark efficiency and function before form mentality carrying over. While the place had inevitably become their true home regardless the Aloadae could see clear as day they were all determined to make this new island a superior Azur Lane to the old one, even if it could never replace the previous within their hearts.

"We are not putting the swimming pool next to the elevator shafts, what do you think that's going to sound like if they turn on when your head's underwater?!"

"Oh~? But doing so with the pub is of no concern? Sometimes a bit of peace and quiet when enjoying a pint is appreciated."

"I…would like to call into question the necessity of making the shrine…so far away from the dorms."

"Why, what's wrong with it?"

"It's very far away to walk…if you simply desire a quiet place to nap."

"...Okay, maybe I'll need to step in and cut them off at some points."

Wryly smiling at that particular thought Alexander stared out over the island, sighing in contentment.

He had a lot of shit to consider going forward but for now, well…it felt good to finally be able to relax a bit.