"As someone from a country with conscription and was conscripted, I would say good for them. Conscripts are often treated the worst by the military and in case of war, more often than not treated as cannon fodder. If you try to escape conscription, the law will come down hard on you."-Unknown

The Mark IV 406mm Cannons were to equip the Lion-class battleships. They would have fired a new APCBC shell. They are used by Norfolk due to the lack of accessible data for the French 406mm gun projects. However, they differ heavily from the original. as they rely on Electrothermal-chemical ignition and advanced flywheel capacitors and Compulsators to store the necessary charge for doing so. Exact data is locked behind databank security, but what little can be recovered will be shown.

Laser rangefinder. TV. IR. Light Amplification Capable
Equipped with Weibel and RSL Muzzle Velocity RADARs

Coupled to Fire control RADARs (Zhuk-M). If visual contact is lost. will still operate at reduced efficiency. Not spoofed by sea-skimmers. Fully computerised.
In addition to APC and HE shells. Can fire Radar Excalibur/krasnopol shells. Mark-ER Sabot shells. A generic M549/XM1113 RAP shell(Incendiary!) enhanced with magitech (50% increase). Bd Z 5121 Krupp K5 Sabot shells. AP versions are available.

APC as fired:946 m/s. As fired in standard Type-D ETC Mode. 1392 m/s.

Propellant:Gun Propellant ESP with Increased Loading Densities and additives. Electrical-controlled combustion with conversion of propelling gas and modified powder charge. (Magazine critical hit impossible). FLARE Ignition
Accuracy is mentioned to be higher than the Iowa's modernized guns due to Electrothermal ignition and temperature elimination by consistent plasma ignition. and goes even higher in Type D mode.
Barrel life self-repairs over time. but is decided by FER rating.
Energetic additives may improve impetus (slight reduction in IM properties).
Higher volumetric loading may counter deficit in impetus.

Maximum Bombardment range as armed with XM1113 and Type-D mode:100-122 km.
Explosive charge:PBXN-05? When transformed. Shell body and explosives begin to behave like unstable Reactive Liners or Super-thermites rated at 3-6x and shell counts as 20-100 kg. On impact. energy is released as magic energy which causes massive damage to the target.-Norfolk's Databanks

You may be wondering why I am stuck in this party with several loliboats. a big-chested battlecruiser and a heavy cruiser that is definitely not a knockoff of Miyako from Wataten together with a battleship-turned-heavy-cruiser with freakish powers capable of razing a entire island to the ground? Well, if there was one thing about me that never changed. and never could, it was my love for video games to distract me to the point i spent several hours in just one run. And without modern powerhouse computers. i had to make-do with what i had, which meant right now... I was on the Wii.

"What!? How!?" Z19 shouted in mild panic and despair as I leapfrogged over her score into the next golf stage. I was struggling not to laugh because for some reason it was funny to tme and secondly because getting to see a shipgirl in-person instead of the TV screen only uped up the factor for me. I am pretty sure she's not actually mad. but she looked like she could've been. "What was that? How did you do that!?"

"Heheheheh...You mean... a eagle?" I managed to say between my muffled giggles that sounded more like a goat than anything else. "Because the french house premiere golfing courses...?" I asked at her genuinely confused expression. again pulling another piece of data from my databanks, hissing as i felt a small headache growing on.

"...No?"

I started laughing like some of these youtubers when they discovered T-posing NPCs in cyberpunk or broke resident evil 2 with trainers because holy mother of god this was building up in my chest! Also, because now it was my turn to make a comeback from my early days! Even if i am not that much of a ace at golf. I can still try to predict where it will go with how much power is behind my swing!

"Cheats!" Echo suddenly shouted. getting up to her feet and pointing an accusatory finger at me. Good to know that even i am not entirely in the clear here. "You cheated! Just because you're a battleship doesn't mean you can just resort to landing shots like that!"

"I think you mean 'exploits?'" Z25 pointed out. Echo flushed red and slowly wilted under her own embarrassment at messing up her wording.

I enacted to not say anything because given the presence of Koln in the room (and the possibility Bismarck might be nearby) it would not look very well for me to start goat-laughing at a destroyer. Especially not at a Ironblood destroyer since Koln was still in the room and I am not going to find out whether her cruiser shipgirl instincts demand that she smash my head in with her chair. which would more than likely lead to me pulverizing her into the ceiling above and a not-happy King George V walking in what just happened. Thinking of a way out. Maybe I could obfuscate my sixth sense as instead something I just got a feel for?

"Some p-people just have more of a feel for it than others. other times it's just pure luck, or it could be pure... instinct. All you need to do is to get the precision in your swing down. E-Echo chan." Truth be told, I actually don't know as to whether it's my past memories as a actual ship. my sixth sense in effect or both covering for me. I knew my psychic powers were in play here. but since I didn't play golf on the Wii games very often and had stopped years ago. something wasn't normal either.

Echo buried her face in her hands and let out a frustrated groan. In fairness, Echo was not a bad player. and I needed to break out the old bags of sheer determination and saltiness about losing to crutch out a win hard. so wrapped up she was in dealing with her loss at a greenhorn shipgirl that she missed Dewey grabbing the controller from her lap.

I turned around on my body, reached out again with my sixth sense for the 'presence' of any active objects around me. and I just noticed that Glorious was in here with us. watching the whole tournament play out. I only caught a glimpse of her in my new eyes (I had not let off the satisfaction of knowing that i could see at a distance again. and without the bruises under my eyes from lack of sleep). But she was standing at a comfortable distance and sipping from a glass of... something? I don't know if it's genuine interest at whatever the group is doing or just her destroyercon tendencies stirring awake from their slumber.

Then again. I don't know what's normal anymore, Especially when you've supposed to be a heavy cruiser. but instead you ended up with abilities that put even Orochi to shame. Oh, and it turns you into a superpowered magic-wielding super-heroine girl decked out in a frilly costume of justice. complete with some saltiness thrown in from Homura's side and mixed up with the power of friendship fired from a handheld wave-motion gun. Oh, and there's a evil organiztaion to fight in the form of Sirens. and I have something of a heroic introduction myself already given how weird i am to Azur lane. so there's that too. I wasn't full dark-on-magical girl yet like Homu-homu. but at the same time things are much more dangerous than it was for Nanoha. yet I still looked like i could belong in a Shonen anime. Oh, and i had real magic. too in a unholy fusion of science and magic.

Alas. I believe most would say things are not right, especially when i have the precognitive and clarivoyance dynamic psychic abilities of the Touhou Satori. the overkill energy attacks of Nanoha complete with Barrier Jacket Defense screens capable of even shattering 20-inch shells on impact. the repurposed time shield of one of Madoka's most infamous characters. Neptunia's ability to learn new skills as if i was in a JRPG. and the potential of more powerful and specialized abilities like Neptunia's or Touhou's later on or what Nanoha did with new attacks. and yet i don't have any archetype monsters or aliens to fight. But i am still a 'newborn' at this stage. even if i have enough strength to simply bulldoze a bunch of Yamatos into the ground. Still, can you imagine the magic potential alone in hundreds of crew members pooling their magic together?

At least thank god i am not wearing Vivio's fetish-gear suit. But I would have knew if i did, Being related to the Book of darkness 'bloodline' would have meant my hair would have likely turned white and my eyes red. Being related to the Saint kings meant my body would be a living weapon compared to even Kanmusus/Kansens. complete with a rainbow magic color in the form of the Kaiserfabe and obviously. her armor. Norfolk's light-brown hair and my standard magic color was not a close ringer for the blondes. and things being as they were, I was likely more closer to someone aspiring to be Nanoha but still Homu in heart more than someone who descended from one of the families of a massive empire.

I am not in a cute costume either. although it would be hilarious to beat the living hell out of a laughing New Jersey or Prince of wales. as obnoxiously dangerous and stupid as it would be for my Masquerade and that it would give them a reason to put me on the dismantling table. what's funnier about that one is that Meruru from Stardust witch is voiced by the same person that voices Nanoha... and also has overkill attacks of its own.

Then again, That doesn't take into account the possibility someone had created a loophole and exploited the hell out of it much to my expense. or something even more dumber and horrifying even if I didn't want to think about the implications myself. Or the chance that i am jinxing myself as someone who reads TG/TF captions and Evangelion self-insert fics a lot. including the one with the tennage dummy plug. Oh, and has a weird fascination with megastructures and warthunder as well as everything magitech-related. especially if science can be applied to combine technology and magic into something greater than the sum of its parts.

Deciding I finally had enough and since I wanted to enjoy myself and the present. I stood up and tossed my controller to the next contestant. "I am out. S-shropshire chan. t-take over my place. will you?" The cruiser deftly caught it out of the air before swiftly plonking herself down next to Ardent. as I walked forward I gave Glorious a quick acknowledging stare. She quickly turned her gaze away, but I could tell with my sixth sense (Admittingly. I was highly inexperienced in that field) that she was struggling to not keep her eyes on the destroyers. Yeah, I can say that's downgraded Ark royal tendencies here.

And that was about when we were all reminded just how good Ardent was for managing to hold her own against my score. The girl's amount of pars and scores did not let Shropshire catch up quickly. who was nervous herself, I felt bad for the teasing heavy cruiser because damn. son! That's got to hurt!

"Ah...god...fuck..!" I hastily muttered under my shaking hands as I was losing the lead in the map. At some point we had changed over to the Mario party series and... Well, Normally. let's just say I would have tried to delay and slow Ardent down instead of leading her on a merry chase around the stage. but we were both down to our last turns and we were deadlocked. I was not in a good position, but my sixth sense and predictive abilities were on my side. I only barely registered the other girls on their edges to see who was going to come out on top from this rivalry.

"Feeling pressure. Norfolk?" Ardent taunted me, a sudden good dice count on her side meant she wasn't far from behind. I had to catch up to the games. and i still had to deal with my other side that wants to vaporize everything in this room with a gleeful Divine buster to the face. So now I was dealing with A. a competent opponent and B. trying not to slip and let my guard down.

I took the risk and decided to force a minigame if this was all what it took for the last step... and I nearly messed up that one too. Ardent then managed to drift closer to where I was on, making the possibility of a loss seem ever more likely. I wasn't gonna make it there by any means but I still tried. no matter what. In just a fleeting moment for a second, I saw Ardent let down her guard. and I seized upon that chance.

Ardent had her character narrowly lose like two sprint runners barely crossing the finish line together. The crowd of shipgirls around us started shouting in excitement and anticipation as to whether it worked of not. And I was on the edge of my seat. unable to do anything but watch as outcomes were drawn, numbers were rolled up and the results were...

The whole room erupted into cheers as present shipgirls got up from their seats. I wounded up laying down on my seat out of relieved anxiety from pulling a win. but I did want to congratulate Ardent for her efforts over the din of Kanmusu/Kansen shouting.

I had managed to win this one. I was just in my chair. controllers mashed into my face and mumbling. "Thank god...Augh...ahaha... Norfolk did her best!" I finished with a cheer and a smile on my face. feeling proud of myself for besting the destroyer.

I then downed a full can of cola that I grabbed from a table in one go. I had enough for this day and well... These kind of games were getting pretty damn boring for me.

I might be behaving like a loner a bit hard now that the destroyer's bedtimes were nearing and the cruisers were starting to herd them off for bed. I was holding off since I didn't like taking orders without a reason and well. Being a loli and all that, i tended to migrate to the younger boats a lot. but now it was just capital ships and these cruisers that hadn't went with the others, and so here i am. swinging my legs on a chair as i looked over my shoulder if anyone was watching.

Strange thing about myself. You see, I didn't drink alcohol because i didn't want that stuff ruining me. but the same could not be said for soda. and soda. especially when mixed with pizza or too much food could do the same thing to me by making me feel lightheaded or just feeling faint. As Norfolk. I haven't felt the effect despite the amount of rations i must have engorged myself on. So theoretically, owning to Magical girl and Kanmusu/Kansen physiology. i could drink as much as i needed to. and then simply suppress the symptoms instead of acting like i had just downed a bottle of beer myself.

Not that i am going to test the theory. I am not going to go lawnmowing the food supply because my roommates deserve as much of a break.

Oh and speaking of drunk children. Vestal was here and similarly nursing the bottle as she sat with her fingers. shaking every so often. from the look i saw on her face, the empty glasses. and the random giggling i figured she was probably drunk already.

Just like your other parent.

I must have saw Duke of York spike the... large glass cup...right. punch bowl. pulling a flask out. pour it into the cup. and then quickly stow it after she took a quick glance to scan her around so that noone was watching. She didn't account for my sixth sense but i am not going to risk causing a fight for now.

Repulse looked torn between staring at me (maybe too much) or putting a stop to this. standing in the corner glancing between me and the rest of us. Poor girl was awkward as hell in this. my easy guess is that she's not used to this event and well.. what amounted to a newborn shipgirl and a child-sized one was watching them all even if i was not drinking myself. Considering that Victoria-era britain had many ideas about child purity/Innocence and given she's still a Great War battlecruiser herself. that does not surprise me at the least.

Kaga just scanned the room. meeting everyone's stare with a neutral look and the trademark blank expression she always had. We all saw it, noone cared. Although. it's a experience seeing a real and living kitsune in-person outside of cosplays or TV screens.

Getting back to me and how i was observing everyone with a slight mix of disgust and neutrality. It only took a bit of prompting and curiosity from Shropshire to get me to open up about the 'Solo gun-and-run on the high seas while electronically silent' matter to her and a few other cruisers. I was careful to leave out anything that involved my magical abilities trying to awaken (but failing to) but the question had been asked already.

"Norfolk, how did you manage to evade these fleets. aircraft and submarines all searching for you while you were alone?"

staying silent for half a minute of so. I told them how I engaged my first fleet. scanned my surroundings with RADAR every so once in a while to minimize any emissions for fear of being detected by RWRs out of cautiousness. sent out Jet fighters and Prowlers to scout out my path. and a near-attack on a submarine group that i decided to cancel (which turned out to be Albacore and a KMS submarine. thank god i didn't do that!). Then i went over to how i tried to ambush a fleet before being counter-battery'd and proceeding to return fire with guns directed by muzzle-velocity and targeting RADARs and a pair of Termits. and finally how i ran into the fleet that was apparently looking for me.

"Wow, Geez." Astoria chuckled. "You really like shock and aweing your enemies!" She said. looking at me a bit too onee-sanly for my own comfort.

"I-It's just what you do when you have a firepower advantage." I asked. speech slightly slow. I had made a few mistakes in verb and pronunciation. but nothing too out of place.

She thought about it. Modern wars aren't fought by conscripts anymore. you fight with power projection and force amplification factors. It doesn't help that in some countries. Conscripts are just fresh bodies to be thrown into the path of advancing armored formations. "Huh. guess its obvious."

"But seriously, How did you put it together that you could find us if you were setting on a path randomly?" Houston asked. leaning forward as i pulled my red hood down. feeling relaxed in my current stance.

"Well..." I tried thinking back. now relying on my new shipgirl physiology. "I-I didn't want to die admittedly. but i think at the time that w-when you have aircraft that can also be used as scouts. You have more confidence with them. You don't see two fleets circling of heading toward each other like that unless they are both enemies and preparing to destroy each other. I-It's not as crazy like trying to go underwater without flooding or attacking anything on sight." I explained. "B-But Norfolk thinks there's so many ways it could have gone wrong."

"What?" Shropshire chimed in. shaking her head toward me. a gesture that i didn't flinch to. "S-swimming underwater!? One depth charge and you'd have been forced into the surface!"

"Hmph." I pouted before leaning back in my chair.

Glancing at Vestal over. who looked slumped and... funny-stupid-drunk. I decided to check on her because even my parent didn't drink like that in such a short amount of time. extracting myself from the conversation without ever so much as a goodbye. i cushioned myself on a empty chair besides the repair ship as she drooled away.

"V-Vestal? Are you okay?" I cautiously asked.

"Dunno..." She got out. "J-Just things."

"A-are you okay? Should Norfolk take you back to your room?" I said. forcing down the amount of anger directed at her for substance abuse and trying to pry what made her like that.

"S-Shhhuddd..." Vestal tried to shout. came out more like an whine of some kind. "M..allowed to have m'fun..." I was about to say something. trying to probe her with my sixth sense/dynamic psychic powers when she started going off into a drunk rant of so. "N'body else can... kin... kaindz...do what i do... jiru...errybody has me doing t...stuff!... alwaysss tired and... cant sleep cuz ther's always more work work work... alway's tired and c-c-c-can't do something..." Whoa. the amount of slurring here and dead-drunkedness was off the charts.

"Ohhh...okay...?" I began. Vestal was hammered out of her mind on this one. but from what i've seen in fanfiction sometimes, she usually is the one being overburdened with work or casualties like that one fanfiction about Azur lane's downfall with Fletcher and Yukikaze. That's strange, she should be backed by Akashi. right? "C-can't you just find other people to help you out?"

"Cuz noone else is good because t-they...don't... 'nuff it'd take too long'." She giggled. something i had saw a few times in drunk people. "Long...to train..."

"W-what do you do for fun then?" I aksed. trying to steer her away from using alcohol to dilute her pain. this was a serious problem and one that could impact everyone in the future. It's said that smokers have a hard time quitting because there's a reason behind their addiction. like it's a way to deal with a world that sees you as disposable. or just relief from pain. like Fentanyl users.

"Sigh...can i keep you company?" I asked gently. I wasn't going to drink alcohol but... i could stay with her. given her love lines... well.. as much as of a lolicon this was and *how bad* that would be in a UN scandal if this was ever found out... She still wasn't that over-fetishized unlike Takao. and her demeanor was something i can easily get along with. assuming she's not drunk or abusing drugs of course.

"S-Sureee...Y-You wanted to g-go underwater...righttt?" She pulled herself off the table. tried to sit up before she pitched forward and buried her forehead in my shoulder. I caught her before she slipped off the chair. aided by my inhumanly augmented reflexes and i felt her start to drunkenly pat my back. "Y' know what i am nna do?" she asked. grinning at me like a manical scientist. I just gave her a blank look. "I mmmunnn make you dddd battlesub...!"

I was stuck having to uncomfortably hold Vestal (not aided by the height differences here) to keep her from just falling over as she once again let her forehead flop onto my face and continued patting my back. "Hey... Hey..." She began. "You do you 'kay... like... you s'vived nightmares... right... s' like... let loose an' let me listen to your grievances 'till yer redy to slepppp."

Sigh. might as well behave like a little girl admiral for now. its the least i can do for my wishes to be a loli and the best i can do for Vestal right now. I don't know whether Nanoha drank of not but its safe to assume she doesn't and Junko kaname doesn't. Besides, Magical girls supported each other and even if she's a normal... She still was the one who came up with overhauls for me and...

I don't know what to say. but despite my previous thoughts. It feels like they are growing on me, I still didn't trust the higher ups and especially Bismarck but Repulse... There was something about the starter battlecruiser with her personality and quotes that struck with me. and Vestal wasn't anything like Atago who was borderline yandere and creepy. or the bunny rabbit suit girls who always had over-inflated chests and marketing to appeal to incels and waifu-freaks simping for a commander when in reality they would rather burn theirselves rather than be with a wife-beater or someone who views them as baby-making barefoot wives.

So I stick with Vestal for now even if Repulse holds a place in my heart, because for now this overworked United States Navy Repair ship needs my help. and well... I was entertaining the possibility of romancing her. she might react with worry about how it wasn't allowed but... I didn't need to share that opinion especially if it came from a willing child and... I had issues of my own as well. like my education and my lack of friends and how utterly naive i was socially and both in terms of girlfriends.

I fought down the tears threatening to make theirselves known on my eyes and the urge to drop my facade. stop acting in-character and get into an argument with Kaga about how her philosophy of the strong dominating the weak would ultimately end with her death. or how Atago's approach would end with a rejection and how Duke of York would be discharged for her actions. I wanted to dig deeper into my powerset and my full capabilities. I wanted to find out why the hell I was here in the first place.

But... hey, God. if there's one thing i want to say. you little piece of oppressive crap who lets diseased people on facebook asking for prayer trains and more prayers die while allowing poverty to exist which led to the emergence of Tang Ping. or Laying flat. Don't take Vestal or Repulse away from me.

So sorry to these who expected a update. i ended up bingeing again on a game. coupled with dad coming over. shopping around for medication and getting stuff in order. Hopefully i can update sooner!

Now that my partner is slowly becoming more active. there's the possibility of the BLACK SHIFT story. which now will come with a difficulty setting that decides how hard or easy it will be for Azur lane. and decides what abilities will join in. as well as profession origins which could be anything from 'A few months later. in the island..' to into the next season in the winter. with my friend taking care of me while i am sheltered away. I am being asked more and more often and for the first time. i may have to confront how dangerous the frontlines will be.

I am also aware there are some minor and noticeable spelling errors that got past my first several chapters when i was starting out. i am planning to correct them. but i simply don't have the willpower to divert for now.

Well. Gamertalker. AO3. FF. See you all in the next chapter in my adventures as the red tomato!