Remove ads

All Along the Watchtower - a Modern Strike Witches Quest

Reader mode
Remove ads
1.0 - This is that beginning
  • Threadmarks
    • [><]Klavdia


    Your name is Klavdia Ilyinichna Fedchenko, and your friends call you 'Klava'. You fly the latest update of the Sukhoi Su-24, the Su-24M2 'Gefest' Striker units, with the goggle HUDs, modern missiles and everything. Pity you can't use full-size ones though - Fitters don't have the fancy weapon bays that more modern Striker units (and fighter jets) have.

    Not that you're complaining.

    Or talking at all really.

    You're sleeping right now. It's early in the morning, very early, a time when most (even on a carrier) are asleep. A good thing - life aboard a carrier is a noisy life, something you've realized and come to terms with - and it's only been one day! Strikers are loud enough, you're used to the roar of a mana-fueled jet by now. But Hornets, Lightnings, and Ospreys are downright deafening without ear protection.

    Correction - you should be sleeping. While you usually sleep like a corpse, excitement about the coming day has caused you to awaken before your alarm, set for six o'clock. You're supposed to be within flight range of whatever attacked the Varyag today - the League of Nations is a stage beyond deep concern. That's why they're sending carriers. While you are Orussian, you are on the Liberion carrier Charlotte E. Yeager - it will be joined later today by the Orussian carrier Ulyanovsk and the Fuso carrier Kaga. The HMS Illustrious is already here, but it is serving as a helicopter carrier - most of the helicopters from the Yeager were moved to it to make room for more witches, such as yourself. The Britannians had wanted to send the Queen Elizabeth, but she just wasn't ready yet.

    The others in your room are likely still sleeping, but they probably would not mind if you got out early. So you do - you get up, make your bed, take a quick shower (Showers aboard the Ulyanovsk are mercifully quiet) and get dressed.

    It is now 5:55.

    What will you do?

    [ ] Get breakfast

    [ ] Go to the hangars

    [ ] Go topside

    [ ] Go to the library
    -[ ] Books
    -[ ] Internet

    [ ] Write-in
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Get Breakfast

    murphy's law: don't eat now, don't eat until after emergency fleet defense scramble.
     
    Last edited:
    [X] Go Topside

    As delicious and nutritious as breakfast undoubtedly would be, unless this fleet is being headed by Admiral Dunnowjack of the Landlocked Republic Navy there's probably going to be enough warning about incoming bad guys from sensor-witches/AWACS in order to get a quick bite to eat before or during any kind of problem. Not to mention we are glorious Orussian witch, ablez of doing the witching without decadent Western things like 'breakfast'.
    ...Also, I just personally never eat first-thing in the morning.
     
    2.0 - Your Stomach Demands Sacrifice
  • Threadmarks
    • [><] Breakfast

    Your stomach grumbles like a proper tank's diesel engine. While it'd be nice to do some exploring, with your daily routine out of the way, the first and most important thing you need is food.

    Lucky you, you are on the world's largest operational class of aircraft carriers, and the latest in the bunch. The USS Charlotte E. Yeager has seven galleys.

    You head for the nearest one, which happens to be the main one. It's a little after six, so it's not at capacity yet, but it's clear that it's getting there - and there's a good chance that there might be more people than they can handle.

    Do Liberion carriers have extra chairs in their galleys? you ask yourself.

    There is an incredible amount of food, all of it of the breakfast variety. Pancakes, bacon, sausages, french toast, eggs, omelettes, some weird eggy-sausage looking cake thing that a label informs you is egg casserole... Almost everything within reason that you would expect a Liberion to eat for breakfast is there. And the day's menu indicates that the amount of food is not only standard, but will increase for lunch and dinner. There's even going to be an 'aircraft carrier cake' for dessert.

    This is absolutely obscene.

    You are passed on the way to the line by a blonde, Arab-looking Witch in an LAF uniform. She piles her plate with eggs and french toast, then gets into a small 'discussion' with the chef behind the counter.

    "Sriracha? Really? Millions a year for food and all you have for hot sauce is Sriracha?"

    "It's pretty spicy, miss..."

    "Yeah, spicy for babies. I looked at the menu when I came here. You must have misheard me - I do not want 'pretty spicy'. I want 'the spiciest sauce you have.' As in 'something with a warning label.' I want something that will peel the deck off this ship."

    "Captain el-Amin, wouldn't you want something a bit less.... potent... to start your day?"

    As you walk up to the food line, the captain looks at the poor chef like he had suddenly grown an extra head.

    "That's a no, I suppose." He pulls out a black bottle of something with a warning label and drizzles it over el-Amin's plate. You don't need that specific Ability to Detect the Evil coming out of the reddish-brown fluid. But the Liberion simply grins and walks away.

    Absolutely obscene.

    As you go down the line, you decide to get:

    [ ] Pancakes

    [ ] Waffles

    [ ] Scrambled Eggs and Bacon

    [ ] French toast

    [ ] Write-in

    Once you get your food, you decide to look for a place to sit. There are plenty of places left, but they're filling up fast. Looking around you spot several places open - most witches are sitting with people from their own country, but some are branching out.

    There's one rather tall Fusoan witch with a rich tan sitting with Karlslanders, Dutch, and Australins - probably from that huge island in the middle of the Pacific. It would explain the tan, and why she would be hanging out with Karlslanders, Dutch, and Australins.

    In another part of the cafeteria, a Britannian witch sits alone, though there are a number of people sitting near her - for some reason, none dare to sit next to her - is she sick? She doesn't look sick. Perhaps they're just afraid of her.

    Not far from the kitchen line, you spot el-Amin sitting among a rather motley group of witches, all Liberion themselves. They're noisy, and you're pretty sure that just being in the presence of that sauce would set normal people on fire. Those witches around her are not on fire, so clearly they are not normal.

    Still, you could always fall back and just sit with your fellow Orussians. You haven't been in the Air Force long but you still sorta know most of your squadmates sorta.

    Or you could just sit alone, if even that fails.

    [ ] Sit with the Fusoan

    [ ] Sit with the Britannian

    [ ] Sit with el-Amin

    [ ] Sit with your fellow Orussians

    [ ] Sit by yourself

    [ ] Write-in
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Scrambled Eggs and Bacon

    [X] Sit with your fellow Orussians

    Solidarity!
     
    [X] Scrambled Eggs, Sausage, and Bacon

    No sausage is heresy.

    [X] Sit with your fellow Orussians

    Muh solidarity.
     
    [X] "I'll have what she's having."
    [X] Sit with your fellow Orussians, glare at Captain el-Amin as you fail at eating your ruined food.

    If Liberions can handle it, so can we, right? *mad laughter*
     
    [X] French toast

    Damn it, now I'm hungry!


    [X] Sit with your fellow Orussians, glare at Captain el-Amin as you fail at eating your ruined food.
     
    Ol'Delux said:
    [X] "I'll have what she's having."
    [X] Sit with your fellow Orussians, glare at Captain el-Amin as you fail at eating your ruined food.

    If Liberions can handle it, so can we, right? *mad laughter*
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    It literally says on the bottle that it will peel the deck off a carrier. You need years of training to be able to handle it.

    You could also just be from southeast Asia but that's not you. You are a slav, and slavs were meant to handle cold, not heat.

    Night_stalker said:
    [X] French toast

    Damn it, now I'm hungry!


    [X] Sit with your fellow Orussians, glare at Captain el-Amin as you fail at eating your ruined food.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Should probably mention in your vote that you want to put the hot sauce from the depths of Hell on your french toast.

    Which would be a weird flavor. Sugary sweet with hot sauce. Are chocolate-coated peppers above jalapeño even a thing?
     
    Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Remove ads
    Back
    Top