[Naval Aviation, a relatively new field, but an interesting one.]
Thanks to @Armoury for the beta!
—
I adjust my tie for a moment longer, then look back at my dear destroyer. She was slightly shorter than me, which was true of several shipgirls. I was not an especially tall man, but the size of the girl depended on the height and length of the vessel, and the Mahan class wasn't a particularly large series of ships. "Oh, I was as far away from destroyers as possible," I reply with a smile. "
Carriers, that is what I studied. A new field of warfare, less focus on guns and torpedoes." I smile wider, teasing my charge. "Oh how I long for it, to not be saddled with a destroyer with a crippling ice cream addiction."
"
Hey!" Cassin half shouts, half growls. "I've put up with your ass for five years, don't I deserve a little credit?"
"Are you capable of launching planes?" I ask innocently.
"Leviathan's in the harbor," Cassin replies, "I could always steal one of hers and we can find out as I throw it at you."
"Leviathan hardly counts as a normal aircraft carrier," I reply. "And in any case, no, her temper is legendary."
Cassin rolls her eyes, making her way over to the door as she does so. "Can't believe you'd pick something like a
carrier though."
"It was merely my field of study, I would suggest not looking into it."
Cassin crosses her arms and hums. "I dunno, I could milk this so that you buy me lunch."
"Is the mess not enoug-"
Cassin spins around and grabs me by the tie, gently but abruptly. "Anderson, we've been at sea for two months. If I have to eat another bite of dry toast and wash it down with the fuel oil our mess officers call 'coffee' I'll sink
myself."
"Noted, breakfast on land then?"
Cassin grins broadly, releasing my tie. With a slight squeak to the hinges the door to my cabin opens, and she skips off towards the ladder. I reach it a few seconds later, though, unlike Cassin who teleports up to the top, I need to physically climb up and into the bridge. It's as empty as expected, though the ship itself wasn't lacking activity. It was our first day back in Pearl now in months, and I had given blanket permission to my crew to enjoy shore leave while they could, barring the essential maintenance personnel involving themselves in the refit, and they were on a generous rotating shift for a reason.
Still, it was only o-six-hundred… and wonderful hot in comparison to some early mornings I had had lately. Pearl was busy, but then, it was always busy. Tugs moved about, haulers, ferries, patrol craft. Ships moved between ships, men moved on the docks, sparks flew in the distance from men working, horns honked, and engines both big and small roared. We were in drydock at the moment, dry and high. Ahead of me, through the glass of the bridge, was the far larger USS Pennsylvania, the battleship glinting in the sunrise as men hung alongside the ship on hoists to give her a fresh coat of paint. To the left was the Downes, a twin of Cassin in every way, a sister ship in the same class. And, further to the left, hugging a cup of coffee to his chest and doing his best to not look like a corpse was Jones, my executive officer.
Cassin, for her part, was already on the wing of the bridge, taking in the open air and shouting something down at the dockworkers below. I ignored her for the moment, instead focusing on Jones. "Long night?"
Jones shakes his head. "Was in my bunk by twenty-two-hundred. Just couldn't sleep."
I grin. "Nervous about seeing the wife again?"
Jones takes a sip of his coffee, a smile finding its way onto his face. "Don't rub in you aren't married Captain."
"My first love remains the sea," I reply.
"Hey!"
"And Cassin, at times." I continue. "Take off, let the maintenance crews take over."
"Aye sir, won't argue with that." Jones says, "Brewed you a cup as well, could hear Cassin from even up here." He gestures behind him towards a cup of coffee sitting on top of the radio stack.
"Appreciated, now vacate yourself from my ship and into your wife's arms."
Jones snorts. "More likely just her heels in my a-"
"Come on, are we leaving already!?" Cassin shouts, sticking her head back into the bridge. "I can feel all the electrical cabling being moved about and it's weird!"
"Not married, am I?" I ask, smiling at Jones, then take the cup of coffee and make my way over to the bridge wing. There I found Cassin sitting on the rail, her hair moving lazily in the warm, salty breeze. "And what, precisely, does the USS Cassin want for breakfast?"
Cassin hums, looking out over the port. "Think we can get some good pancakes around here?"
"I know a place, come on, my car is already ready at the end of the dock." Then I stepped past her and made my way down the staircase.
The crew, those actually on the deck at the moment amidst the draped cables running across it keep working as we walk past. They paid us little attention as we made our way towards the gangway, too busy with their tasks. My car was sitting where I had requested it, having been brought over last night, it was a small, cherry-red Buick. One of the few luxuries I afforded myself. Though, given my job, it had taken me a full year before its first tank of gas was used up. I open the passenger door, letting Cassin slide inside before I moved over to the driver's seat myself.
Cassin leans back immediately, cranking the seat as far back as it could go before resting her head on her hands. "Driver, I wish to partake in a lovely Sunday drive, do prepare my hat."
I smirk, then close the door. "It's Saturday."
"
Details." Cassin replies.
With a turn of the key, the engine comes alive, as does the radio a moment later.
"This is CBS New York, bringing news around the world. Reports today from the German press announced that the German army has captured Moscow, reports from the Russian Empire are still unconfirmed at this ti-"
With a click I turn the radio off, frowning at it before I start to move the car out of the dock.
"When do you think we'll be dragged into all of that?" Cassin asks.
"No idea," I answer honestly. "Landon wants no part of it, though by this point it may be too late in any case."
Cassin hums as the car makes its way out of the drydock and onto the connecting street. "I still don't understand how the managed to get the Sirens on their side."
"The moment you figure it out, let me know," I reply. "I've been trying to figure that one out for two years. Not like the Sirens have a representative to speak to."
"That we know of," Cassin counters.
"That we know of," I admit. "Still, it's most of Europe now. Would be a tough nut to crack."
"Be fucking impossible if they manage to take England." Cassin replies bitterly.
"Language," I reply. "And I know, wish we could do something too, but we have our orders."
Cassin rolls her eyes and turns her full attention to the window instead as we pass by the oil storage yard just outside the drydock. We aren't going exactly quickly, which may be the reason why I rather quickly heard a voice.
"
Hey, Cassin! How many Sirens ya get?"
The destroyer jerks her head back to the front, looking wide-eyed as a small group… gaggle? Of Marines was jogging on the sidewalk in PT gear. With a rapidity that threatens to break the lever of the window as she winds it down, she sticks a hand outside the car and holds up four fingers while grinning wide.
Cheers sound, and Cassin giggles. Her morose mood forgotten, we pass by the dive tower, CINCPAC, and all the other various administrative buildings before we begin making our way towards Honolulu itself. The streets aren't busy, and besides a few of the submarine girls frolicking in the water… under careful watch by the Marines for multiple reasons, I see few other shipgirls either. I turn my head as we pass the port once more, no longer blocked by the Pennsylvania, and take in the sight. Three carriers were in the port at the moment, with one of them being the USS Leviathan that Cassin was talking about earlier. They had just arrived from a delivery at Wake, I believe. Near them was Battleship Row, where I could see the proud forms of Maryland, Oklahoma, Tennessee, West Virginia, Arizona, and Nevada. Beyond them I watch as a plane takes off from Ford Island, beginning a lazy turn over the harbor as it begins a morning patrol.
I think about it a moment, looking out over the vessels, then glance back at Cassin. She was staring at them all, transfixed and wide-eyed.
"Hey Cassin, how'd you like to meet one of them?"
Cassin looks at me with confusion. "Waddya mean?"
"After breakfast," I continue. "I know most of their COs, could get you a tour if you wanted to see the big guns."
Cassin tilts her head. "But I've already served with Texas."
"Do you need an excuse to see more? Might even get you out of drydock for a bit to sail around in the harbor. The CO of the Pennsylvania owes me a favor."
"Like… just you and me? Sailing together? No crew?"
I nod my head.
Cassin goes beet red and stares down at her lap. "... Yes, that'd be nice."
I smile, then ruffle her head.
The destroyer, for her part, pouts, immediately pushing it back into place and fixing her hat. "Hey! For that, you owe me two!"
"Who do you want to see?" I ask.
"Weeeell." Cassin begins.
—
The ship you choose here will survive Pearl Harbor. There will be a second vote to save a carrier. The ship chosen here will be involved in the plot going forward.
View: https://i.imgur.com/cVI7D1O.png
[] [Arizona] - Total Loss
A kind if quiet girl, purported to be the best cook in the harbor.
View: https://i.imgur.com/jFmF3AE.png
[] [Oklahoma] - Total Loss
One of the most cheerful girls in the fleet, always bubbly.
View: https://i.imgur.com/lqZ6Stk.png
[] [California] - Sunk, in active duty come 1944.
Laid back, but proud. She's not one for boasting.
View: https://i.imgur.com/IYoxyzh.png
[] [West Virginia] - Sunk, in active duty come 1944.
A shipgirl that kept to herself, rumor has it she has gotten into trouble repeatedly with the brass.
