Not Heaven Part IV

>>>Two hours later<<<

‘I don’t get it, not a single one of them!’ Zuikaku stood on the docks, pacing back and forth. She had done it for an hour now

‘Calm down’ A very docile Kaga sat down, leaning on some barrels trying to get her lip to stop bleeding ‘That won't get you anywhere’
‘Easy for you to say, miss perfect! I've lost two damn squadrons! The planes I can do without, that's what's Bauxite is for but I NEED my pilots!’
‘Which once again is why we have half of a destroyer flotilla out looking for them. And you're not the only one missing pilots’
‘We're doomed, everybody! The pride of carrier division 1 has lost two planes!’, Zuikaku shouted out to the whole docks.

Kaga frowned and tossed another blooded tissue on the concrete, still warm from the sun.

‘Three. And the only reason I'm not up and getting food with Akagi right now is that I don't trust you to go out looking by yourself’
‘So that's how it is, huh? Don't trust me? Think I need a babysitter?’

Kaga growled in a hushed tone, helped herself off the concrete with her bow and went up to Zuikaku, standing just a little bit too close for comfort.

‘They have submarines out there right now and you know it. I'm not losing a fleet carrier-’

She looked around, to make sure no one stood close enough to hear them

‘-And a dear friend because she couldn't keep her head cool. I'm just as unhappy that we can't find out pilots as you are, but you need to take it easy!’

Zuikaku exhaled and closed her eyes.

‘Fine. Augh… Fine! But this is bad. Sun's going down in an hour and we haven't found more than a handful. Think the Abyssals are taking them?’
‘Neither of them can really speak. Only reason for them to do it is deny us our veteran pilots’
‘I'll sink them all…’, Zuikaku hissed behind teeth clenched shut
‘Not now you won't. You need to eat and rest’ grunted Kaga
‘Oh, we're doing that?’ Zuikaku’s tone was entirely new. ‘Then you should get your lip fixed. In the repair docks’
‘It’ll heal’
‘And leave a nasty scar unless you get to the docks. And with the way the rest of your face looks…’
‘Do you want to swim?’

Zuikaku realized her last comment put her really close to being pushed in the water. Kaga was in no mood jokes. Or in a mood for anything for that matter.

‘Augh…’

Zuikaku sat down to watch the setting sun and was soon joined by Kaga. They sat and bickored in a remarkably friendly tone for half an hour before the destroyers turned up. They were tired and unhappy. Their record for search and rescue of downed pilots was almost spotless. And now almost 30 were missing from three carriers.

‘Not your fault, you did you best’, Sighed Zuikaku to a rather sad looking Akatsuki, who gave the carrier the three fairies she had found in the water. ‘Thanks’

The carrier put on a rather shallow smile and ruffled up the hair of the little destroyer who joined her friends and went away from the pier.

Zuikaku sighs and lowers her head

‘Things are starting to get bad’
‘Things have always been bad’ Kaga replied in her usual cool tone
‘Not like this. I've lost count on how many of us are in being repaired, resources are thinning and get ever more expensive to get-’
‘And we grow stronger by the day. You are a more powerful warrior now than what you were this morning’
‘And more tired’

The sun set in front of them. Both tired from today's fighting. And just as Zuikaku was about to the temptation and lean over, a very familiar voice came from behind.

‘Kaga-san, Zuikaku-san’

They both turned around

‘Akagi-san, and Fubu-’

Zuikaku only finished half that sentence before jumping up, seeing what the special type destroyer carried in her arms

‘Where did you find these?!’

Fubuki stumbled and stuttered a little, trying to explain before Akagi cut in, with her ever so calm and friendly voice

‘Zuikaku-san, please don't be upset with Fubuki-chan. She has done very well’

The destroyer’s face reddened with the comment, and the hand gently stroking her hair

‘We were eating, and I had just finished my meal, but heard noises that were very strange. Four aircraft of two types that were completely unknown to me appeared’
‘Abyssals, inside the district?’ Kaga hissed as she received the fairies Fubuki gave her
‘No. We're certain this isn't Abyssal’

Akagi held up the aircraft she has been holding behind her hands since she got down to the pier. It was a very odd machine. Thick fuselage with a skinny tail and asymmetrical empennage. What was odd was the wings, far too small to lift the machine. And the propeller, which was gigantic placed on top of the roof, pointing upwards.

‘What is this…?’ Kaga still managed to keep her cool facade
‘We don't know. But this one and three like it came with the fairies. Fubuki managed to catch it as it was getting away’
‘It gave them back?’
‘Every single one. And while we don't know what it is, we know who owns it’

Akagi turned the odd machine around to the two other carriers. It had “NAVY” written on the side in large, bold letters

‘Americans’
‘Or maybe the British, Yes’ Akagi confirmed ‘Right now only the four of us know this happened. We can speak to the admiral about it, tomorrow, or go to the Western district, now.

Kaga tossed a last blooded tissue on the ground and shrugged

‘Let's just be quick about it. Things to do, places to be’
‘I’d agree’ Zuikaku tuned in
‘Then let’s go. Fubuki-chan, you should get some rest’

The destroyer nodded, with a slight hint of disappointment in the deep, green eyes, she went back to the barracks. With that, the three carriers set their course for the western district. They were met by some odd looks as they walking in, going directly for the administrative building. Ignoring the ship that sat outside the door, they went up, Kaga knocked two times with just a little more force than necessary

‘Open up. First carrier division’

A hushed growling was heard from her side. Zuikaku looked unhappy.

‘With friends’

Bismarck, who sat on the other side of the door was surprised to say the least

‘Come in, please’

The carriers are offered a seat, and all decline politely

‘No thank you, we won’t stay long, as late as the hour is. We’re simply here to ask a few things. Firstly, are you aware that the SAR today went any differently than it usually does?’

Bismarck seemed a little taken back by the question

‘Not that i am aware of, no. Are you missing pilots?’
‘Up until an hour ago, yes’, Zuikaku cut in, a little too tired of being quiet. She took the strange airplane from Akagi’s hands and put it down on Bismarck’s desk. ‘I’m not sure i like my pilots being brought home be foreign, unfamiliar aircraft’

Bismarck didn’t answer. She picked up the machine, studied it carefully and looked back at the carriers.

‘I’ve never seen this machine before’
‘Neither had we. It’s american’
‘We have a new american ship here as of yesterday, i wouldn’t know for sure, but-’
‘We’d like to have a word with her’

Bismarck narrowed her eyes, looking deep into Zuikaku’s. The battleship definitely did not like to be interrupted

‘I believe the American ships has turned in for the night. I’d suggest coming here tomorrow’

There probably hadn’t, but Bismarck sent them away out of spite and nothing else

‘And i’ll keep that aircraft, and bring it up with her directly in the morning. You can come back tomorrow at 6pm if you’re still interested. That will be all for today’

‘Yes, secretary ship Bismarck…’

One of the best performing carriers and a veteran sadly didn’t have enough weight in the matter. Bismarck was the secretary ship of this district, and held all the authority here. Akagi nodded, turned around and walked off, leaving the two other carriers behind her. Zuikaku’s hot head and temper had cost them tonight. Kaga was probably going to discipline her later, that has seemingly become her part time job. Different people reacted differently to difficult times, and Zuikaku just seemed to get even more of a temper. Things had become pretty bad. And were getting worse. She had an uneasy feeling lingering as she watched the moon on her walk back to her eastern district. Something was about to happen, she felt it.

Meanwhile, just outside the window, Gambier Bay’s pulse was in the in the low 180s, having stood and listened to four ships that could easily make an absolute mess out of her. And she had been eavesdropping on all of them. She didn’t even want to do that. Hell, it was only by chance she saw the three Japanese carriers walk into the Western district, and she just had to tell Saratoga, who somehow convinced the terrified little escort carrier to eavesdrop. She now had done her job and ran with the fear of god back to her room. She completely ignored anyone else in the room, and instead did a majestic leap for her bed and dove under the blankets.

Saratoga saw the whole spectacle. She had pretty much gotten the clue about Gambier Bay by now, and the only thing that was going to calm her down was the soft, cooing and slightly motherly voice Saratoga could put on. However, that wouldn’t be enough for tonight. The little carrier needed to be rolled up in a blanket, held securely with one arm and having her soft blonde hair patted by the other before Saratoga could calm her down enough to speak. Which she did, eventually.

Saratoga had ended up in a bit of trouble. Enterprise had sunk a battleship, a cruiser, five destroyers and damaged a cruiser and three destroyers. In the span of 30 minutes. With 12 planes. Even with her experience, this was an exceptionally high tally. Was it the planes? they looked like normal torpedo bombers, but was bigger. She’d have to take a closer look at them. Would she tell the other carriers about it? It would make a mess and might reveal her actual identity. Would she date do that? The Japanese ships were okay with all other American ones. But with Enterprise, maybe not. And she definitely had to speak with Iowa and Intrepid about the new planes. And then she'd have to ask Enterprise about who could actually be trusted with her identity. Saratoga didn't like having secrets.

While she was thinking, the warm blanket, her soft lap and reassuring grip on the little escort carrier had taken its toll. Gambier Bay was softly sleeping, huddled up in Saratoga’s lap. The bigger carrier smiled a little and kept slowly moving her fingers through long strands of golden hair.

Enterprise came in just after the little one had fallen asleep.

‘You still up?’ Enterprise kept her voice down not to wake anyone up
‘Yes, i’m enjoying some peace and quiet’ Saratoga sighs and she gently wipes of a bit of drooling on Gambier Bay’s cheek
‘That’s heartwarming’
‘Yes. I have some news for you regarding that last helicopter that didn’t return, but we can take that tomorrow’
‘Or now, i don’t have better things to do’

Saratoga points to the sleeping ball

‘Right. Tomorrow then
‘Yeah…’
‘Something up?’
’Gamby is…’ Saratoga sighed ‘Not really- Augh. What am I saying. She would need a bit of assistance. I try help her as best i can, but there are limits to what i can do as well’

Enterprise goes quiet

‘I apologize. I may have been leaning a bit much on you since i got here’

Somewhere deep inside, Saratoga probably wanted to say yes

‘It’s quite alright. It’s a war going on, not a walk in the park. I help you to get on your feet, and i’ll be doing everyone else a favor. One more on our side, you know?’
‘Yes. I get it. I’ll get some rest, work more tomorrow’

Enterprise was unaware of what “prude” was, and had soon slipped down under the blanket. She struggled a little with her hair, she’d either lie on it, which would pull and hurt a bit, or get all of it in her mouth. It took a bit of adjusting to find a comfortable way to lie down. Before her eye sat still Saratoga, rhythmically running her hand over the smaller carrier’s head

‘You’re not going to sleep?’
‘...have you tried this?’
‘Staying up all night?’
‘No, i mean, just having someone-’ Saratoga halts herself mid sentence ‘Never mind. You get some rest’
‘I will’

Enterprise rolls over and faces the wall. Sleeps grips her soon after. And releases her some time after. The only source of light was the hallow shine from the moon. It was enough for her to see that Saratoga was still tightly holding on to the smaller carrier. At least they have moved to the bed now. But… In front of them images flashed up. Drawings, lines, all in black and white. Gone as soon as she tries to focus.

Enterprise blinks a few times again. And she can see them, a fraction of a second after she closes her eyes, it flashes up. The frustration of not being able to tell what it is soon comes to her, and since sleep is out of the question anyway, she sets course for the workshop.

But just as she rounds the corner of her dorm, she sees the moon in all its beauty, low in the sky, surrounded by a hundred million stars. The skies in the pacific looked just like this. Without all the light pollution the sky looked like it was almost glowing itself. It all reminded her of how her hull code was changed on christmas eve in 1944, from CV-6 to CV(N)-6, signifying part of her squadrons were trained for nighttime operations. She was the only carrier in the war with that capability.

Instead of trying to work on her rigging, she put all of it on herself, and was just about to the shoreline where she had stood yesterday with Ark Royal, when a little envelope slipped out. It was something she had never seen before, and with the possibility of that being instructions, she tore it open. Unfortunately, the contents of the package were not helpful at all. But it was her awards. A Presidential Unit Citation, Navy Unit commendation, World war 2 victory medal and a cool 20 battle stars, for starters. She pinned them, and the remaining few to her chest (with some difficulties due to the rather thick cloth), offset to the left side as she had seen actual officers do.

With that done, Enterprise went back to the shoreline to see if she still deserved the “N” in her designation. The fairies didn’t seem to mind being up in the middle of the night, much to Enterprise’s content.

She put Raider Lead on the very back of the flight deck, and watched the wings unfold as the engine woke to to like a beast woken from its slumber. The whole plane jerked counter-clockwise as the throttle was pushed wide open. As it was only loaded with half a tank of fuel and ammunition for the cannons, the plane took off into the night sky with a bit of runway left. Another three planes were sent up to join their squadmate in the sky.

Flying at night in this particular spot was not that much of an achievement. The sea was calm as if it was made out of glass, there was a complete absence of clouds, and the moon and the stars actually provided enough illumination to navigate by. Especially when she launched the by the shore, and especially with this clear weather. It made the sea clearly stand out from the land to the pilots, who would have no trouble at all flying up and down the coastline. Granted, just flying up and down the coast had very little practical value, but it was a start.

Another four planes were sent up. She let them practice a little against each other. Sure, the skyraider was no fighter, but with the very powerful engine and heavy armament, it might be able to perform the role of a heavy fighter. Besides, it wasn’t like her pilots lacked the experience in fighting more nimble opponents. As she stood there, watching her fighters fly, she felt something about the night. The chilly wind, the endless ocean in front of her. Her enemies were out there

Enterprise was so deep in her own thoughts that she didn’t notice someone walking up behind her.

‘I did hear rumors about a new carrier’ The voice was unmistakably british and carried a lot of “upper class” about it. ‘But i certainly did not expect you’

Enterprise turned around to face the delightfully soft voice. Behind her, a woman clad in very ornate clothes, light in color. She was shorter, but then again, so was everyone else

‘Who are you…?’
‘His Majesty’s Ship Warspite, of the Queen Elizabeth class’

A quick series of thoughts fly around in Enterprise’s head. One of her awards in particular made it impossible to lie to Warspite. She was just about to open her mouth when the battleship spoke up

‘An american carrier, clad in all grey launching airplanes in the middle of the night. You call yourself Essex, but that-’

She pointed at the newly pinned up awards on Enterprise’s shirt. Below the other awards was a small red cloth patch with a golden anchor on it

‘-Is a British Admiralty pennant. And only one ship outside the Royal Navy has ever been given that. Meaning that you are either a stolen valor fraud, or USS Enterprise. But i’m leaning towards the latter’

Enterprise smiled a little, happy that it concluded as painless as it did.

‘I’m Enterprise. Pleased to meet you’
‘Pleasure is all mine’

Warspite took two steps forwards, standing next to Enterprise and looking out over the sea

‘I knew you’d be on our side’
‘As opposed to what?’ Enterprise replied, with the slightest hint of irritation in her voice’
‘Nobody has told you about the Wo-class yet?’
‘The who?’
‘No, Wo. It’s a carrier our Japanese colleagues have fighting since before any western ship was here. They have damaged her in battle times and times again, but she always seems to be able to escape. And she can launch planes at night’
‘That… sounds like me’
‘Yes. Many believe an Abyssal is what happens to a ship when it doesn’t come to rest properly. And that they have been fighting you the whole time’
‘My steel hull was scrapped, so i guess-’
‘As was mine, regrettably’

The two fall silent and look out over the Pacific a few more minutes. Enterprise slowly lets her planes come back to land.

‘You wouldn’t have a guess why i’m this tall?’
‘Ah, i was hoping you’d bring that up. It is rude to mention a lady’s size, but if you bring it up, it shall be so. And no, i don’t see how that came to be. You are part of the Yorktown class, and yet you are comfortably the tallest one here. If i didn’t know any better about american ships, i’d at the very least say you were a ship of 70 000 tons or more’
‘That number is troubling’ Said Enterprise, almost grunting

Warspite chuckled lightheartedly. Her voice was really, really soft.

‘Not a fan of the Yamato sisters i take it?’
‘I’ve never seen either of them like… this. A person’
‘Fleetgirl’
‘Yeah. And i’m not sure if my attitude to them is the problem’
‘No? And that would be?’
‘I sank Musashi. Or at least dealt her a lot of damage. Maybe i didn’t do the finishing blow, if there even was one’
‘Ah’
‘Because of her, and another 7 capital ships, Saratoga was right to tell me to introduce myself as Essex instead of Enterprise’
‘Your secret is safe with me’
‘Thanks’

The second to last airplane fell down on the flight deck with a thud, and the engine fell silent.

‘I’m down to thirteen planes, i don’t have any propulsion, electronics or any systems at all. As nice as it is to meet you, I have to get to work’

Warspite pushes her left sleeve up a little, revealing a silver watch seemingly crafted by nothing short of the Kings own watchmaker.

‘It is fifteen minutes to three in the morning’
‘War waits for no one’
‘What a very good thing to say. Tell me, if so many of the systems are unfinished, you wouldn’t decline a bit of assistance?’
‘Not at all. Not that i will force anyone to work’
‘You shan’t. I will meet you at the workshop’

Warspite turned around and walked back to the buildings. She had an aura of authority and grace about her. Enterprise would be genuinely surprised if she could fight at all. Not that she would mind some help, not at all. Back in the workshop things were much the same. The aircraft were still laying on top of each other n the box, and a hundred or thousand different parts lay on the table in front of her. Would she have a radar set on her own? A good surface radar was crucial for all ships, especially those operating in bad weather. Her old radar could pick up a big ship at ten miles, if conditions were poor, which they usually were with radars. Good weather, fourteen miles, tops.

Would a fleetgirl have a lesser radar signature than an actual ship? Most likely, as they were much smaller. Then again, many things didn’t make much sense here. Like when Warspite gently opened up the door and closed it behind her. Gone was the ornate dress, the jewelry, crown and scepter, along the intricate braids and clips she had in her hair. Her clothes were simpler, not quite like someone who actually worked in a workshop. Maybe a manager. But a good effort for a queen, nevertheless. It was a little odd as she was so far the only one wearing even remotely civilian clothing.

‘Oh don’t look at me like that, i didn’t win two world wars because i was pretty’

Enterprise smirks a little

‘Alright then. Let’s get to it. Welcome to this little hole of misery’, Enterprise says with an exaggerated gesture

‘Thought i’d might be able to assist you. I was scrapped too, remember. At any rate, would you tell me what is working and what isn’t?’
‘Right. This launcher is only half assembled, i have the harness to carry everything on and i have a radio. I don’t have any sort of engine, meaning no propulsion and no power generation. I have no radar, no hydraulics, and no other electric systems’
‘Your radio works without power, how curious... At any rate, i do believe our first priority is getting power’
‘Yeah. I have the turbines and their housings, but neither me, nor the Saratoga or the count could figure out how to make steam’
‘Did Graf go on about logic and systematics?
‘Yeah…’ Nodded Enterprise ‘She did’
‘Of course she did. Get the turbines and we’ll see what pipes we have. They are bound to come from somewhere’

Which they did, eventually.  A series of pipes that seemed like good candidates for moving steam around were connected to the four turbines. The problem was the ocean of smaller pipes seemingly without a purpose. Luckily, Warspite was very pragmatic, not to mention skilled, even if the former didn’t work together with the queen personality.

As they were assembling the steam pipes, it became more and more obvious that it would be closed systems, still without a heating source. But after a little bit of lateral thinking and guesstimating they had a rather good idea on where the heat would be applied. They even dug up eight oddly shaped… things. They were hooked into the steam turbine system and did absolutely nothing. Then again, if this actually was a powerplant, it didn’t have any fuel. Despite that, enterprise actually tried turning it on which only seemed to make it get pretty warm after just 20 seconds or so. Enterprise grumbled and turned it off again.

Not to get bogged down, they turned their attention to the radar system. Strangely, there were absolutely no antennas for a radar. Sure, there were antennas, but they seemed to be for just the radio, not the radar.

But when some sort of halved superstructure had been assembled, they found out hundreds of little indents in it, all with metal clips. It very much seemed as if things would attach to.

Getting a little tired of that part of the rigging, they moved on to the flight deck. And is it turned out, this was a lever action rifle rechambered for airplanes. First, the trigger was actually a release valve for a container leading to a steam piston via a set of pipes. Warspite recognized this piston as an aircraft catapult, as tried in the early 50s, before she was scrapped. The rearward end of the piston was fixed to the gun itself, with the front driving a little hook on top of the flight deck. The conveyor system underneath the flight deck with the hooks and the coil spring turned out to be little more than a “magazine” or a “Hangar” for four aircraft.

The lever, which would usually be the operating mechanism for the gun, would here work the aircraft elevator up and down. When the elevator was in the downward position (by extending the lever), an airplane would be fed from the conveyor best, which acted as a magazine. It was then as simple as retracting the lever, which puts the aircraft on the flight deck, wings unfolded and armed. Then the trigger would release the steam (coming from a yet unknown source) which would help the plane take off. It all sounded marvellous, in theory anyway.

With that road driven to the end, Warspite found a half inch thick block of things attached to a plastic sheet that Enterprise had struggled to understand what it was earlier. But a slight misjudgement of height and warspite bounced into Enterprise and dropped the block, sending it down to the wooden floor and breaking off a corner. It was a little dark grey, semi transparent tube with something none of them knew was inside it. The only hint to whatever it might be was a few metal legs on the underside.

Enterprise’s curiosity was piqued, and she started breaking of more of these strange tubes. There was something electrical about them, she was sure. But what?. It didn’t fit into anything that had to do with the propulsion system, which only seemed to want electrical cabled from it. Nor did it see to fit in anywhere on the flight deck.

Back to the drawing board, then. Which at this point in time was filled with cables. The time of wiring was upon them, and it was a drawn out process, resulting in many hurt and burned fingers from the soldering.

Now most of the bigger components had a cable leading to and from them. All leading to from to a weird intersection of sorts, with batteries in one end. Batteries made sense for backup power.

But that wasn't the only backup power available. Along with the batteries was also four gigantic diesel engines, seemingly powerful enough to make some destroyers start questioning things.

More curiously, these were primarily connected to pumps, which in and of itself wasn't a big deal, all ships had pumps. But these were set up in a way to draw sea water into the ship. Or more precisely, the “powerplants” she had found earlier.

Warspite decided it all went together a little too well not to be tried, and the “Grand Old Lady” did have a point. It all fit together. All the hose clamps, the screws, the pumps, the cables, the pipes, the lot. But the whole system was just loose parts. It would probably fit into what looked like the bottom part of Saratoga’s, but about twice as large. And with all the machines put in, a lot heavier.

Enterprise was pretty certain she was stronger than Saratoga was, and she had serious problems keeping this whole bottom-part-of-a-ship in her arms. Warspite argued that that might not be necessary.

All this time, enterprise had tried to look for a way to move on water as everyone else would do. But because she had welded together the ship’s hull (because who would cut a ship up in the first place?), she had little option but to try and install the whole system with the maybe-powerplants, the pipes, tubes, steam turbines, batteries, and diesel generators in this hull. Once again, Warspite was right in saying it all fit too well together to not be right.

‘I get what you’re saying. I totally do. But we’ve just assembled a miniature ship. Which no one else has, right? It’s all ice, uhh, waterskating?’
‘Not everyone, no. My rigging does give me a throne to sit on, even in battle’
‘I suppose that worked well for you. But what am i supposed to do with this one, stand on it?’

Warspite raises an eyebrow. And then slowly move her big, blue eyes to look at the two metal boots laying on the floor

‘...Really?’
‘Do the mounting brackets near the bow not seem rather like those on the left boot?’

Enterprise looks at the contraption with concern in here eyes

‘I don’t even know if i can swim’
‘You’re supposed to be on the water, not in it. Tally ho’
‘Yeah yeah, take it easy’
‘And do get your airplanes’

Warspite looks at the sad looking clock on the wall

‘We have short of an hour before our friends start waking up’
‘Alright. Let’s see what we can do’
‘I'll go get changed, be seeing you there’
‘Speaking of… since I got here I haven't seen anyone dress, well, normally. It's always clothes that I've never seen before, particularly brave, incredibly ornate with your dress or just weird. Apart from the overalls you're wearing now’
‘Tssk. Can't go outside dressed as a commoner now, can I?’

Enterprise wore a face of doubt. Warspite looked around to confirm that there really wasn't anyone around

‘Please keep your voice down about this. Further questions should be taken with Iowa when you meet her’

With warspite getting changed into her proper clothes, Enterprise lifts her whole rigging, which is very heavy at this point and heads down to the beach.

>>>Twenty four minutes later. Eastern naval district<<<

Iowa was bored out of her mind. She had spent god knows how long in this damn repair dock. Sure, she was really close to getting sunk, but three weeks in this place felt like too much of a punishment. She couldn’t move out of her god damn pool of water more than a few minutes at a time, or it would feel like she was being submerged in needles. Her little pool was too small to move around in much, due to her large size, and it was just barely room for another destroyer, or a small cruiser with some motivation.

Looking over at the clock, it was half past five in the morning. Iowa cringed at the mere thought of being up early.

Normally she would have gone right back to sleep at this hour. But she has slept so much these days because these simply wasn't anything to do. No one else was awake at this hour, so there wasn't anyone to tease. Or talk to. Breakfast was still two hours out, Kagerõ was sound asleep, the poor thing.

Iowa frowned. It's not like she was the one that started staring.

She looked back on the clock. 05:32. What the hell was a battleship to do to get some god damn entertainment over here? Breaking the silence, her stomach growled, clearly not satisfied with what had been coming its way the last few weeks.

And just as she abandoned all hope of getting to do something, literally anything at all, she heard that godawful du-du-duu sound from someone having left their phone on. And it would not stop pinging.

Du-du-duu. Du-du-duu. Du-du-duu. Du-du-duu. Du-du-duu. Du-du-duu.

If she just waited a little more it would stop. Just give it a moment. It will end soon.

Du-du-duu. Du-du-duu. Du-du-duu. Du-du-duu. Du-du-duu. Du-du-duu.

Who the fuck left their phone on in the repair docks. God, when she found out who left it on and disturbed her sleep.

Iowa’s barely conscious mind grinds to a halt. This is Japan, just before the end of the war. They didn’t have phones, much less anything that had that kind of notification signal. The battleship leaps out of the pool and rushes over to a little table, where she finds her own phone beeping away. It takes her another few moments to realize what it is on the screen. She freezes for a moment and then sets pace for another pool in the docks. Navigating through a maze of sleeping destroyers, cruisers and even a few capitol ships. Finally, she finds what she has been looking for

‘Hey, Intrepid, wake up’

Iowa poked the sleeping carrier’s shoulder a few times

‘Wakeupwakeupwakeupwakeup’
‘The fuck do you want…’

Intrepid, obviously not happy with being woken up blinks a few times to get her bearings

‘Ohhh no, we are so not doing that right now’
‘What?’ Iowa raises an eyebrow ‘What do you think I’m doing?’
‘What do you usually do wandering around in here without wearing anything?!’
‘Oh come on, you’re making me sound horrible’
‘I don’t care, why are you waking me up?’
‘LookLookLookLook’

Iowa shoves the phone into Intrepid’s  face

‘Why the hell do you have that thing out? God knows what kind of trouble we’re in if anyone sees that’
‘Shush, just look at the screen
‘Six hundred and thirty seven Tinder matches? Jesus christ woman, you need a hobby’
‘Nah you’re just jealous cause i’m the hottest shit since Hiroshima’

Intrepid cringes. Hard

‘If they don’t kill you for saying that again, I will. And if you’re just here to show off, piss off, I wanna sleep’
‘Nonono, not to show off. The point is that i got them at all. It needs internet, right?’
‘Uhh, yeah?’
‘I got the notifications because i have internet. That isn’t supposed to work. Internet isn’t even invented here. But i have it right now’
‘Oh’

There is a small pause between them
‘Alright’, Intrepid begins ‘Put that thing away and turn it off for now. We’ll do some investigation as soon as we’re out. First thing would be to ask Sara, she seems to be friends with everyone here’
‘Gotcha. I’ll go back to sleep’

Iowa turns around and gets back into her pool. This leaves Intrepid left in her own pool sighing and wondering why she has to take care of what seemingly is an overgrown teenager