"Almost makes you forget we're at war," Thorson mused. He was standing before the three shipgirls on the dry dock adjacent to the massive lab in which he'd found Akashi and Shiranui. The girls were sitting on a knee high concrete wall that separated the dock from the berth itself. At least two of them were sitting. Shiranui continued to defy physics and floated a couple inches above the wall. He could faintly hear the waves lapping against the beaches to the east and west, as well as the more proximate sound of the water splashing against the docks of the base. A slight breeze ruffled his hair and every so often the clouds would part, granting them a bit of natural illumination.
"Askashi is not at war with Shikikan," the catgirl protested happily. "Akashi does not even know where this Pearl Harbor is, nyaa."
"Yes…so you claim," Thorson muttered. "Are you more comfortable now?" He asked. He still held his rifle at the ready, but was refraining from pointing it at anyone. Akashi nodded.
"Yes, Akashi is feeling better, nyaa!"
"Do all shipgirls talk in the third person?" Thorson demanded.
"I'm floating right here, idiot Shikikan," Shiranui cut in. The Commander rolled his eyes.
"Yes, yes. How could I forget the ghost ship? Anyway, time is wasting Akashi. What is rigging and how would Laffey acquire it?" Akashi's eyes glinted in the moonlight and a veritable arsenal of hand tools protruded from under her too-long sleeves. Thorson snapped his gun barrel at her.
"Nyaa! Please do not shoot Akashi! How many times must she say?" Akashi asked, holding her hands up. "They are just tools! Akashi will need them to work on the bunny girl!"
"Her name is Laffey. And you will do no such thing. Start at square one. What is rigging?" He demanded, lowering his weapon again. Akashi nodded.
"Rigging helps shipgirls control their vessels better, nyaa. Makes various actions more intuitive, more fluid."
"How so?" Thorson urged. Shiranui answered instead of Akashi.
"Shikikan is a dirty human, so you have a vestigial tail, yes? That thing at the end of your spine?"
"You're pretty knowledgeable about biology," Thorson replied evenly. Shiranui glared at him.
"Unlike the Union girl your praise means nothing to me. Imagine if you could be granted that tail and you realized you'd been missing one your entire life. That is what rigging is," she said coldly as Akashi bobbed her head eagerly, her cat ears twitching.
"Yes, yes, it's just as Shiranui says, nyaa!"
"And how does on acquire rigging?" Thorson continued.
"With a wisdom shard, of course!" Akashi stated as if it were the most obvious conclusion in the world. Thorson shot a look at Shiranui.
"Could one of you two elaborate for the 'idiot Commander'?"
"The shard is a piece of a wisdom cube, nyaa. Can be used for other things like creating dummy ships, but rigging is most interesting. Full cube is needed to clone a shipgirl ship anyway. Shard is implanted in the spine, nyaa. Shipgirl can then call forth her rigging, see?" Akashi closed her eyes as her rigging glowed and vanished. Laffey made an 'oooh' with her lips as she watched. She looked at Thorson.
"Laffey wants rigging, Commander. Can Laffey have rigging, please?"
"I'm not implanting anything in you, Laffey. I'm certainly not letting them do something like that either. If something went wrong I wouldn't even know what to…Akashi, who was in charge of implanting the shards amongst the Sakura?"
"Akashi does maintenance on old shards, but she does not implant them, nyaa. Most Sakura shipgirls are born with rigging. Older shipgirls acquired them too but Akashi doesn't know how," the green-haired catgirl explained. Thorson scuffed his boots against the dock and took a deep breath, frustrated at all of these advances that seemed so close and yet just out of reach.
"Do you have any wisdom shards, Akashi?" He asked.
"Akashi does not, nyaa. But there should be cubes in one of the labs. If Shikikan finds one Akashi can break it into shards." Thorson nodded and gestured with his rifle.
"Alright then, you first. Both of you." Akashi gave him a pitiful look.
"Shikikan doesn't trust Akashi, nyaa?"
"I can't afford to trust you. Not yet."
After about ten minutes or so the small group had found their way to the back of the warehouse lab. There Thorson laid eyes on what had to be the conductive matrix. It consisted of two large metal cylinders with glass front walls. They were large enough to hold a shipgirl each, and he could see a terminal and what had to be input slots for wisdom cubes. Two large tanks were connected to the device via sturdy looking hoses with metallic casing. Other cables and hoses ran from the matrix tanks out through the walls and, Thorson presumed, to the dock outside. He didn't bother looking at what was inside the storage tanks. The whole set-up reeked of human experimentation to him. Instead his attention was drawn to a small crate stashed under a tarp that Akashi had bee-lined for as soon as she saw it. After removing the tarp and blowing off half a decade's worth of dust, the repair ship opened the lid and was immediately bathed in a bright, blue glow. Reaching inside she procured a cube and returned to him, holding it in her sleeves and presenting it for his inspection.
"One pristine, unused cube, nyaa! Useable on any ship type," she asserted. Thorson nodded, trying to mentally catalog everything that seemed relevant such as the concept of certain cubes only working on certain ships. He reached out for it.
"Gah! What the fuck?!" Thorson recoiled quickly, feeling as though he'd been hit by a thousand volts and placed his hand on a hot stove all at once. His skin was unaffected, but the pain had been extraordinary. I could touch Arizona's cubes just fine, what the hell was that? Laffey ran to his side.
"Commander is hurt?" She asked nervously. He shook his head and closed his eyes tightly as the pain slowly faded.
"I'm alright. I guess humans can't handle these things in that state. Laffey, do you want to try?" He asked, catching a very nervous look in Akashi's eyes. "I presume you didn't know about that?"
"No, Akashi did not, nyaa. Akashi can hold it just fine, see? Please don't hurt Akashi." She extended the cube to Laffey who took it easily into her hands. Thorson watched with amazement as Laffey's eyes practically glowed blood red and her hair began to wave of its own accord. Akashi snatched the cube back with an even more worried look, hastily glancing between Thorson and Laffey as the destroyer blinked a few times and looked around.
"What was that? Are you alright Laffey?" Thorson asked, placing a hand on her shoulder and kneeling down so he was closer to their height. Laffey nodded and spoke, her voice airy and detached.
"It was power."
"Gotta admit, having a bunch of ghost fire floating around you is pretty convenient. Visibility is a lot better than when we came here," Thorson said to Shiranui. The floating destroyer girl was at the front of their party as they walked over the beach that led back to where the USS Laffey was waiting at anchor. She didn't bother turning back to Thorson.
"Being dead is not convenient," she replied, annoyance clear in her voice.
Thorson shrugged. "Well, it's convenient for me."
Thorson had decided on this course of action after Akashi had located a workbench and taken her tools to the wisdom cube, working with precision and ability contrary to her appearance. By the time she was finished there were sixteen differently shaped shards on the table and almost no waste to be seen. Thorson had gathered them all into a bag and had decided to take the three shipgirls back to the Laffey. It was partially a security measure and partially an experiment he'd been mulling over since witnessing the wisdom cube's effect on Laffey. If anything beneficial were to happen to her, he wanted her close to her ship. A short while later Thorson was the last one to haul himself aboard. Akashi was looking around the Laffey with large, curious eyes.
"Nyaa! Laffey has such a powerful ship for a destroyer. Sakura girls would be jealous!" Akashi insisted. Laffey puffed her chest out, her budding breasts barely making themselves known beneath her jacket. Thorson brought them back to the task at hand.
"Let's head to the bridge. Laffey, you go first?" He requested. She nodded and led the way with Thorson bringing up the rear. Akashi looked every which way, tail swishing about with interest as Laffey casually synced herself with her ship and brought it back to life. Shiranui continued on with a disinterested look plastered over her face. Soon they were back on the bridge and Thorson upended the bag of wisdom shards on the table. Laffey reached for them immediately but Thorson stopped her, grabbing her gently by the wrist.
"Just…wait a second, please," he requested, retrieving his notebook and pen that he'd stashed away before their arrival. "Laffey, what do you feel when you see the shards, reach for them? Anything special?"
"Is Commander learning about shipgirls?" Laffey asked right back. Thorson nodded.
"Everything I can. What do you think?"
Laffey took a moment to formulate a reply, touching a dainty finger to her lips. "Mmm…Laffey is drawn to the shards, yes, but only a couple of them."
"Which ones?" Thorson inquired as Akashi crouched down so she could be at eye level with the glowing blue shards, her oversized sleeves looking more than comical as she gripped the edge of the table. Laffey pointed to a couple of shards and Thorson did his best to make note of the shapes. They were all jagged pieces so it was difficult to see why Laffey would have chosen them above the others, but he didn't question it. He simply observed. Laffey waited patiently for him, tugging on his sleeve when he'd finished his sketches with the note: destroyer shard selection.
"And what do you feel from those shards, Laffey?"
"Laffey wants them."
"Can you be more specific?"
"Laffey feels…" the shipgirl closed her eyes. "Laffey feels like she will never become strong enough for the Commander without them." Thorson shrugged and was about to ask that she go ahead when Laffey continued. "Laffey tells the shards she wants power to help the Commander, to help fulfill her purpose. The shards say this is alright, that it won't hurt when Laffey evolves." The giddy scientist within Thorson began scribbling furiously and postulating what Laffey's words might mean more rapidly. Even Shiranui glanced curiously at the lapine destroyer. The ghost atop her head seemed to change its expression ever so slightly, but Thorson couldn't be sure he wasn't just seeing things, especially as the time approached 0400 hours.
"The shards speak to you? Akashi is jealous, nyaa. Repairing shards of Sakura girls always seems uncomfortable. They do not like visiting Akashi. Perhaps the shards are still angry at Akashi for breaking them?" Akashi proposed. Thorson chuckled in spite of himself and the presence of two nominally enemy shipgirls.
"If they're angry at you I can only imagine how much they loathe me," he said, remembering the pain of attempting to handle a cube. Laffey was fidgeting beside him, playing with the hem of her jacket and rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. Thorson pet her on the head. "I'm sorry for making you wait, Laffey. Go ahead. Do what you think is best. If something happens I'll do what I can to stop it…and then throw Akashi overboard."
"Shikikan is joking, right?" Akashi demanded nervously. He nodded.
"Of course. If something happens to Laffey I'm going to kill you and then throw you overboard," Thorson confirmed. Akashi proceeded to hide under the table. Laffey crouched down and joined her.
"Laffey knows it will be alright. Please forgive the Commander. He's very nice and warm when he is not on guard. You should sleep with the Commander, you will see."
"Laffey!" Thorson roared. "Stop whoring me out to the enemy and let's get this over with."
"Surely Shikikan has a big bed that can hold lots of girls!" Akashi exclaimed. The Commander shook his head.
"I can assure you my cot barely fits me alone. Now then, both of you get out from under that table. That's an order."
"Yes, Commander!"
"Hai, Shikikan!" Akashi answered jubilantly, almost as if she and Laffey were playing a game.
"You're pathetic, Akashi. He shot me, remember?" Shiranui rendered her judgment as her friend eagerly took orders from Thorson.
"In my defense, you were armed and refused my orders."
"And if I'd still been alive I'd have never given you the chance," Shiranui insisted. While she and Thorson argued, Laffey took the shards into her hand. She gasped and staggered backward as the same reaction began again, her eyes actually casting a dim light throughout the bridge. Thorson watched in amazement.
"Akashi, a Sakura ship is fitted with rigging, is the process like this?" Thorson asked, spellbound as Laffey closed her eyes and entered some sort of trance-like state. Akashi and Shiranui seemed just as confused as he did, the cat-morph mechanic eying her tools.
"The Sakura have machines, nyaa. Akashi suspects they are Siren, but does not know. Akashi suspects many things are due to the Sirens but can never be sure since Akashi is not a warship. Akashi is just as confused as Shikikan!" A cry of something between shock, pain, and pleasure from Laffey brought them all back, urging Thorson forward to try to stop whatever was happening to the shipgirl he realized he cared plenty for despite their short time together. Akashi grabbed him by the hand. "It will be dangerous! Shikikan must not touch her!"
"Why?!" Thorson bellowed as Laffey slowly brought the shards to her chest, every small muscle of her frame straining as she did. Thorson couldn't tell if she was fighting herself, concentrating, or completely disconnected from reality as her long, silver mane of hair waved behind her. Before Thorson could protest further the dull blue glow in Laffey's palm exploded into a violent white, blinding him and the other girls. A soft thud met his ears as he rubbed his eyes and tried to recover from the impromptu flashbang. "Laffey!" Thorson shouted, his vision returning as he laid eyes on the shipgirl, sprawled out on the floor of the bridge. He dropped to his knees at her side and took her head gently in his hands, placing two fingers on her pulse point. He allowed himself to breathe as he felt the reassuring thrum of blood pumping through her veins. Her heartrate was elevated and he could see sweat on her brow, but the pulse beneath his fingers was strong. "You were almost in really deep shit. And you still will be if she doesn't wake up," Thorson vowed, throwing a venomous look at Akashi. The repair shipgirl was saved as Laffey stirred in the commander's hold, tilting her head and looking up at him.
"Laffey feels itchy," she told him with a woozy voice. He smiled at her and gingerly helped her to her feet.
"Where does it itch?" He requested. Laffey reached behind her and pointed to the back of her neck just below the cervical spine. Thorson grabbed his notes and moved behind her. "I uh…I can't see the area, Laffey. Could you-" Laffey wasted no time at all in divesting herself of her jacket, revealing a patch of glowing skin just above the middle of her shoulder blades. "Mother of God," Thorson swore under his breath as the light slowly dimmed and resolved itself into an image, a stylized rabbit's head with crossed torpedoes just beneath. The mouth was formed by three x's in a pattern reminiscent of moonshine or other contraband alcohol from the prohibition era. For all intents and purposes he felt it summed up Laffey pretty well. "Does it hurt?" He asked. Laffey shook her head.
"No, just itches. Laffey feels like the shards are all there waiting for something. Laffey doesn't know what, but Laffey wants to scratch."
"Can you do me a big favor and hold still for a few moments?" Thorson requested, moving her hair out of the way so he could accurately sketch what he was seeing. As he did so his hands brushed over the affected area by accident, causing Laffey to tremble at the knees. "Laffey?" The shipgirl let out a deep breath.
"It feels very good when Commander touches Laffey," she informed him with something bordering on lust in her voice. Shiranui made a gagging sound. "But now Laffey is itchy again."
"Right, I'm sorry Laffey," Thorson apologized, intentionally ignoring her first comment while completing a quick sketch of Laffey's mark and labeling it: wisdom shard induced energy 'tattoo'. "Alright, done. Do you have any idea what the shards are waiting for?" He requested. Laffey shook her head, shifting more and more as her discomfort grew. Thorson racked is brain as he looked at Shiranui and Akashi. Neither of them seemed to understand anything more about the situation than he did. The spontaneous and voluntary uptake of shards by a shipgirl seemed foreign to them as well. Thorson wasn't sure why but he remembered Arizona in that moment, recalled how she'd responded to his final order, how her cubes had been so unusual afterward.
"Well, it's worth a shot," he muttered. "Laffey!" The shipgirl turned to face him as he switched to his 'officer's tone'. "I order you to activate your rigging and prepare for combat." An immediate wave of relief passed over Laffey's face as the symbol on her back glowed bright, a wave of light cascading down the back of her body before resolving into the first rigging ever equipped on an Eagle Union shipgirl. A small boiler tower formed the core of the structure, with a quintuple torpedo launcher attached to the left side and a single 127mm gun battery attached to the right, the two weapons forming a purposeful weight distribution that seemed to have Laffey standing straighter. The main structure was fastened via metallic arms that rested snugly at her tiny waist. A couple of stylized, red fins graced her ankles and the finishing touch came in the form of a small, handheld spotlight that Laffey presented to him, as if a present or testament to what he'd done for her. Beneath them all the ship seemed to roar to life, a vibrant hum of machinery and energy that had nothing to do with the engines.
"Laffey feels much better; she will light the way. Laffey loves you, Commander!" The shipgirl exclaimed, somehow managing to sound sleepy and excited all at once as she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. Thorson could do nothing but smiled broadly to match the elated, thankful look on Laffey's face.
"Now that…that is progress," he said with immense satisfaction, slowly divesting himself of Laffey. "Akashi?"
"Nyaa?"
Thorson extended an open hand to her. "Welcome to Azur Lane."