Yeah, in a fic about a magical carrier girl finding a new career in the US as a construction worker while the world panics around her, the mass resignation/clean-up of the Pentagon seemed pretty weird.
TO be clear, the resignations seem to be related to previous, La Palma related missteps and have nothing to do with Trinitite's particular SNAFU.
I actually think the idea of a bunch of people being fired/forced out for a perceived failure only to be replaced with people who aren't qualified to do their job has some potential? But in a political context, I think it's faaaaaaaaaaaaaar more likely to happen because they're not sucking up to the autocrat hard enough than because of a legitimate failure to perform, at least in real life, and when it happens in the story I can't help but think about that.
Controversies from across the 2010s were brought back into the limelight as the hearings dissolved into a hysterical witch hunt, and by the time the dust had settled, the United States Navy's high command had almost been entirely replaced.
I am tempted to say that "almost" and "entirely" should be adjacent. Possibly even hyphenated. I think that it could be read as "almost" referring to it having a very high chance of occurring but not actually occurring at all? But, ehh, the meaning is clear so this is basically just pedantry at best, and incompetent pedantry at plausible.
No one cared that the evacuation had succeeded the government's expectations, that the Tsunami's destructive power had been tempered by a rookie demolition job on La Palma and the wall of barrier islands that protected the East Coast's ports.
All in all an interesting interlude that has me thinking about things in the world outside of the scope of the story which is always fun. It also paints a more alarming picture of what might happen if Trinitite's cover gets blown. Adds some nice background tension.
Thank you. I've got two reasons behind these types of interludes: First, I don't want to drop the government-related arc entirely, now that they don't have an immediate effect on Trinitite. The promise of this fic is seeing a Wo-class stumble through mundane jobs, but after the military played such a big role in the last act it didn't feel right dropping them entirely, especially since we've left them off with unfinished buisness.
Second, I figure breaking up the work segments will give them a bit more staying power: giving you other stuff to think about should help keep things fresh.
honestly, that the abyssals haven't tried this approach before is a failure of imagination on their part. Someone who can be either an aircraft carrier or a person is a nightmare. They can sneak in on a motorboat with their rigging stowed then do exactly what the president is worried about.
Especially if one of them was sunk in that very attack then stood back up and sucker punched the Abyssal that did her in in the back, however implausible that situation could be.
This is basically what happened with Wisconsin. I won't elaborate because it's not particularly relevant, but with The Battleship Princess is not happy Wisky took her bow.
The chapter itself is excellent worldbuilding, but out of curiosity is there anything special about La Palma in legends that would be significant here? Or is the Princess just unusually inventive/had a subordinate with more than the standard count of brain cells?
Eh, it's mostly inspired by the hysteria around La Palma collapsing and creating a tsunami that happened a couple years back. Later discoveries found that the island wasn't going to fall apart in a cataclysmic landslide and destroy the US, but enough charges in the right place?
As to why the French Battleship Princess would figure that out... uh... It wouldn't be impossible. I guess a ship would have a pretty good idea how displacement works.
And, y'know, American presidents can't be easily removed outside of their election, and I think that people would be able to block a wartime impeachment by calling it too much drama and such.
I think the fact that you felt compelled to write this chapter at all is a sign that the story is, at least in some sense, inherently political, because what is this if not an examination of the political context of the situation? And political fic can be good. Message fic can be good. I still need to write my own anti-capitalist propaganda.
You made some good points, so I guess I need to clarify here. Political fiction in of itself isn't bad. Classics like 1984 and Ferinheit 451 wouldn't exist without their political message. Alice in Wonderland was an allegory for contemporary British politics, and Mark Twain's anti-monarchist rants in An American Yankee in King Aurthur's Court are not all that relevant anymore but kinda fun to read. All those books, however, were written with the intent to provide political commentary from the get go.
This story isn't. I'm willing to mention the general dynamics of american politics, but passing judgement on any present day party or figure can only pull people out of the story. If they agree, I wouldn't have accomplished anything besides distracting them from the narrative. If they disagree, I might loose someone who'd otherwise give me good criticism, and I've just made someone's day worse because of it. Hell, they might be ultimately correct, and now I'm just an ass. If they don't care (because they're foreign and don't get much value from closely following internal american politics in this instance), then I've wasted their time.
Like I've said, there are several stories where, even if I agree with the author, seeing paragraphs dedicated to their unsolicited opinion instead of the character, plot, or setting is something I find really annoying and detrimental to plot. Political commentary is something that can be done well, but you need to organically weave into a narrative, and I haven't bothered to set up the proper groundwork.
I'd like as many people as possible to enjoy my fic, and that includes a lot of people whose ideology I find abhorrent or who'd find my own views repulsive. I'm not going to compromise my vision for the fic to keep them, and I won't damage my narrative to get rid of them, either. It's kinda nice to know I can find common ground with people I disagree with, anyways.
Despite everything I just said, however, I'm not particularly afraid of alienating my readers. It won't be political, but I know I'll be making a creative decision that'll probably alienate a few readers two or three acts from now anyways. I'll save stirring up controversy until then.
No mass resignations, but there is a precedent here. Admiral Richardson, who protested moving the pacific fleet from San Diego to Perl Harbor on the grounds of it being too exposed was forced into an early retirement by Roosevelt, replaced by the more politically reliable Admiral Kimmel. I won't pass judgement on Kimmel's actual skill, but after the Attack on Pearl he was relieved of his command, put through a painful series of hearings, and retired in 1942.
The US also sidelined a lot of officers who weren't preforming well in their initial Africa campaign, and the story of the Union Army in the Civil War isn't much more than a long tale of Lincoln sacking his generals for incompetence. The first example is what I drew inspiration from when it came to the post-La Palma hearings, although with the added pressure of internet hysteria and all the other scandals that have rocked the Navy in the last couple years.
If I really wanted to, I could make the argument that this chapter IS political in so far as it suggests that military leaders should or do face consequences for their failures when my knowledge of the real world suggests that the vast majority of them don't face any meaningful consequences?????? I'm not sure what, if anything, it ends up saying on the subject, but it certainly COULD say something???
Does it? I thought I implied the over-harsh reaction to the miltiary's failure is one of the reasons this is happening in the first place. When I was writing it felt more like commentary on the 'soliders good, polititians bad' narrative I love in sci fi but isn't all that realistic.
The first example is what I drew inspiration from when it came to the post-La Palma hearings, although with the added pressure of internet hysteria and all the other scandals that have rocked the Navy in the last couple years.
Yeah, I can see how ready access to video makes for a qualitatively different dynamic if everyone and their mother is filming the devastation. Still, it sounds like all the examples you provided were largely imposed by people within the command structure, IE from the top down, while this seems to be largely coming from public opinion in the story? And, again, that's not necessarily unrealistic, but I do still have quibbles with it, as I'll go into below.
Does it? I thought I implied the over-harsh reaction to the miltiary's failure is one of the reasons this is happening in the first place. When I was writing it felt more like commentary on the 'soliders good, polititians bad' narrative I love in sci fi but isn't all that realistic.
The thing is, right, the way it's written says that it's brought on by public opinion and the political/pundit class? It's the elected officials (who are not necessarily The People but are theoretically more responsive to them than military brass, at least), the media, and the people at large who are responsible for shaking up the Pentagon in this way.
Even though it explicitly comments on that 'soldiers good, politicians bad' narrative, at the same time it feels like an extension of that narrative. If anything, it comes off as 'soldiers good, public bad' to me, which is, uh, I imagine you can see the problem with that if you're not looking for a military dictatorship?
And it's not even like the People are immune from doing bad things; mob violence and Twitter bullshit do exist, after all, but there's reason to believe that this specifically wouldn't happen? The "rally 'round the flag" effect is generally accepted as a thing that exists: in the immediate aftermath of a crisis, leaders become more popular, not less. The magnitude and duration varies, of course, and you can probably argue it the other way, especially if the Abyssals are already a thing and are seen as a known quantity that are already hated, so you need something new to get angry at. At the very least I'm ambivalent on the realism, which brings me back to the thought that maybe 'soldiers good, public bad' is not a good narrative.
Does it? I thought I implied the over-harsh reaction to the miltiary's failure is one of the reasons this is happening in the first place. When I was writing it felt more like commentary on the 'soliders good, polititians bad' narrative I love in sci fi but isn't all that realistic.
the issue is, the purging was not the soldiers doing, it was imposed. Maybe rejigger it a bit so a lot of the push for it was internal? Officers within the military being the ones to say it was from higher-ups who were to busy playing politics, possibly with the president musing that this was done apparently out of genuine believe of such rather than people looking for a promotion.
I am curious, has that been stated by Lewis Caroll at some point? Because I have been told there are many theories, including that Alice in Wonderland was the author's way to rant about mathematics...
I am curious, has that been stated by Lewis Caroll at some point? Because I have been told there are many theories, including that Alice in Wonderland was the author's way to rant about mathematics...
There are plenty of references, at least. For instance, there's the Caucus-Race, the trial...Not sure if you can apply it to the entire work, but it's a significant element.
Not very familiar with Kantai Collection, but this has been very entertaining so far, so I'll just be keeping an eye on it. Wo-chan is very cute, here's hoping things don't go to badly for her.
There are plenty of references, at least. For instance, there's the Caucus-Race, the trial...Not sure if you can apply it to the entire work, but it's a significant element.
I vaguely recall reading that several characters appear to based on other famous writers at the time, so it might be celebrities in general, rather then politics specifically.
It was looking like another day of dismal weather. Alton wasn't entirely sure what the residents of this area had done to warrant unending overcast and drizzle, but he was certain it must have been an unspeakably terrible atrocity. He wasn't sure why anyone would live somewhere with so little sunlight, and if the rumor about this place's suicide statistics was true, then he guessed many people couldn't. Mable's decision to move in with her parents while Alton was hiding in Oahu's jungle made financial sense, but now that they were renting a house he was seriously regretting not looking elsewhere.
San Diego couldn't be that much more expensive, could it? If that didn't work out, real estate was probably really cheap in Florida now.
He shuttered, the image of glowing eyes in the jungle overtaking him for a moment. Anywhere on the East Coast was way too close to trouble.
"Up?" Elizabeth questioned, interrupting Alton's thoughts. He focused back on the level he'd been steadying.
"Nah, this one's good." He reported. Without further prompting, the new girl twisted the wire around the bar, securing it with a now-familiar ease. Once some light prodding proved the rebar was secured she scooped another bar up, threading it into the bender while Alton stole a swig from his water bottle.
Again, Elizabeth operated the bender with ease, pulling the lever down with her arm strength alone. The mystery behind her endurance still burned in the back of Alton's mind, but in the hours they'd worked the novelty had worn off somewhat.
He lowered his water bottle, unobscuring the form of his supervisor. Austin approached, giving Alton a nod as Elizabeth finished with the other end of the rebar. Oblivious, she turned back to Alton, offering an end of the rebar, but he instead focused on the Supervisor closing behind her. He wasn't making any attempts to conceal his approach, but it seemed Elizabeth was too absorbed in her work to notice. An urge to point out the Woman's (lack of) awareness rose, but his boss spoke first.
"Everything going well?"
To her credit, Elizabeth didn't jump this time.
"Oh! Yeah, we've made a lot of progress." She turned, looking back at the steel skeleton they'd been assembling. "I think."
"You have." Austin confirmed. "However, it's almost Ten, which means I've got to turn you over to Lee." He made a show of checking his watch. "He's on the floor below us, with all the folks wearing blue helmets. They stick together, so just say you're the fresh meat Dan mentioned and they'll point you to Lee Newman, got it?"
"Aye-aye!" She replied, snapping another salute. Alton quietly added 'random salutes' to the list of downright surreal things surrounding the newcomer. Unfortunately, She was gonna get swept up by The Electricians, and he'd never have a chance to fish for answers. "Look for Lee, one of the blue helmets."
Maybe that was a good thing. Generally it was Alton's policy to keep his nose out of other people's business, but if he had to spend so much time with someone so mysterious he knew his curiosity would get the better of him.
"That's right." Austin confirmed. "Have a good day."
"Uh…" She hesitantly replied. "...you too!"
A second passed.
"Well? You've only got three minutes to get down there."
"Ah!" Comprehension dawned on the woman's face, and she turned. Setting a pace just below running, she left, shouting a haisty "Sorry!"
Once the newcomer was suitably out of earshot, Alton's Supervisor turned to face him, his face serious.
"How'd she do?" Austin asked, his voice low.
"Pretty good." Alton replied, before reconsidering the statement. "Really good. I don't know how Dan found a terminator, let alone hired one. I've never seen someone with so much endurance."
Austin chuckled, slapping Alton on the back. "It's called being young, Alton. You'll understand when you and Mable have kids."
Alton faked a chuckle in response. Elizabeth's endurance was clearly more than just being young and spry, but that wasn't a point he was going to argue.
"Anyways, you two got a lot more done than I expected, so I'll put a good word in for her with Dan. Help out Tirto and Sern in the meantime."
He nodded, hefting the remaining rebar they'd brought.
"Got it."
He'd originally been working with Sern, but once Tirto's partner stopped coming in the older man had been added to their work crew. They worked together well enough, but in the specific task of building rebar cages the third person found themselves with a lot of free time. It looked like Austin was trying to split their little group up again, a sentiment Alton could certainly agree with. It meant the process would be less convenient for him, but ultimately it also meant they'd get this job done faster.
Tirto and Sern had just gotten started on another column, the pair hunched near the ground as they leveled a rebar brace. With their backs turned, Alton thought his approach came unnoticed, but Tirto spoke up as he approached.
"Back already?"
"'Already?'" Alton echoed, laying the leftover rebar next to their stockpile and feeding a length into the bender. "It's been two hours."
"Tie it up." Tirto commanded, and after Sern's acknowledgement he continued. "Didn't feel like it. It's a lot more work with only two people."
"Of course it is." Sern added, before changing the subject. "You and the new girl got a lot done, didn't you?"
"Sure." Alton replied noncommittally, throwing his weight into the bender. The lever fell with little effort, but he still couldn't see how Elizabeth had made it look so easy.
"What's she like?"
Sern's question was tentative, hopeful. Alton stood, suppressing a sigh.
"She can bend rebar, Sern."
He knew this topic was going to come up. Unlike a lot of refugees, Sern didn't have any issue talking about his life before the Abyssals drove him to Washington. The kid had a pretty sheltered life, almost never leaving his hometown. Between School Studies and his hobbies, it was clear Sern had never found time for romance in his life, and living in a stuffy all-mens barracks clearly wasn't helping things. Alton would be very surprised if Elizabeth hadn't been on his mind for the majority of the day.
Sure, a young man like him was entitled to his thoughts, but a conversation along those lines would get old fast. Hopefully, he'd get the hint.
"That's good, but…"
Of course he hadn't.
"I don't know, Sern." Alton cut him off, handing the younger man a prepared length of rebar. "If Austin can pry her out of the hands of the electricians, then you could probably get to know her when concrete's drying on the next floor."
"She looks about the same age as you." Tirto interjected, steading the bar and tying off his end. "I bet she'd love to hear about those cartoons you like."
Sern grunted noncommittally, handing Tirto the lever while Alton got started on bending another length of rebar. The conversation died as the three got back into their work pace.
Still, Alton couldn't shake the questions that had borrowed into his mind: Just what was Elizabeth?
Not that he'd ever know. The electricians downstairs had a labor shortage as well, and he was sure that once they'd gotten their gloves on her, they wouldn't let her out of their sight.
- - -
"God damnit."
Trinitite flinched, knowing her superior's foul mood was entirely her fault. Lee Newman had greeted her amicably, and had seen her through the process of threading wire through a concrete-encased conduit, but once things started going wrong…
"You don't have to yank the wire, Elizabeth!" He turned, exasperated. "When you pull it, take your time. For Christ's sake, girl, this is the second time we've had to do this."
"Aye." The Abyssal replied, sullenly staring at the frayed end of the thick wire Lee had called the 'fish tape.' Tied to the end of the tool, the remains of the wire she'd tried to pull through the conduit sat, little more than some stretched copper and rubber.
Trinitite had thought she could handle small work like this, and she was taking her time to feed the wire through the pipe, but there was just enough resistance that she couldn't rely on gravity to guide the wire through the tube. When she was putting any effort in, however, the cable Lee had tied to the end of the fishing tape would snap when the hook caught on a bend or be yanked out of Lee's hands as she tried to guide it through, both with disastrous consequences.
"Just-" The human stated, gritting his teeth. "Just slow down, okay? Don't force anything."
She… she wasn't, though…
Deep, folding rebar had been so easy! This job was looking like a guarantee until they started asking her to work with fragile stuff. Even if everything went right from now on, there was no way Lee would put a good word in with the Fleet's Princess.
"I won't." She reaffirmed, trying to keep the hopelessness out of her voice. "Sorry."
Instead of giving an expected response, like 'Sorry isn't enough' or 'I don't care, just do it right this time,' Lee sighed, searching Trinitite's face.
"Tell you what." He said, looking away from Trinitite. "The rest of the team is working on this floor's circuit breakers, but we don't have any coolant for them."
Coolant? Why would-
"Now, the guy in charge of the Toolshed told me the site was out of Breaker Coolant this morning, so we were going to install them without the coolant and add it in next shipment, but I could swear it got resupplied only a few days ago."
The man started meandering towards the exit, motioning for Trinitite to follow. She did, and he continued with his explanation.
"Now, everyone knows Cook nabs a bit of the supplies for his black-market contacts, but he's never too brazen to steal all of something. Either he pissed off the Hells Angels and needs to sell a lot of something expensive like circuit breaker coolant, or I bet there's still a good amount lying around the worksite. I don't have time for a thorough search, but think you can take a look around for me?"
"Uh- yeah." Trinitite replied, somewhat confused. Her circuit breakers didn't need any kind of coolant, especially since, if one was tripping enough to need cooled, Trinitite would have much more serious problems, but human technology was far more advanced than what she had. Maybe it was some kind of fire suppression system.
"Great." Lee replied. "If you could get me some by twelve, I'll be very grateful. Check with the Electricians in the other building first, I think they're on floor eleven, and make sure you stay safe, alright?"
"Aye aye!" Trinitite acknowledged, forcing an enthusiastic salute. "I'll do what I can."
"That's all I can ask." Lee replied, turning away from Trinitite in a silent dismissal. The Wo-class carrier watched him leave for a second, surveying the worksite before she descended. herself.
It was a hunt, then. Trinitite hadn't participated in any seek and destroy operations, content to allow fleeing submarines to sulk as she put distance between them, but she'd heard plenty of exciting tales from Abyssals who had. This certainly wouldn't be as tense, but compared to folding metal like she'd been doing for hours? This was exhilarating.
First, she wanted to find someone else with a blue helmet. Something didn't sit right about the explanation Lee had given her. The human had been in a bit of a hurry, though, so she probably only needed Circuit Breaker Coolant re-explained by someone else so she could get a better idea of what she was looking for.
Now, it would probably be best if she could catch an electrician on the ground. Were there any blue helmets down there?
Pyrrhic's Pro Tips #1: Whenever you don't know how to start a chapter, describe the weather! It's easy and will definitely never get old, just like with conversations!
Lee is actually pretty terrible at his job, to be cutting the wire he thinks he'll need before feeding it into his conduit. The videos I watched did make the process look almost foolproof, but they certainly didn't follow US regulations and only used one wire, so it's probably more difficult than it was in what I watched. Still, I admit I don't know much about wiring a building. Hopefully I got things correct enough that I won't need to go back and rewrite that scene.
the issue is, the purging was not the soldiers doing, it was imposed. Maybe rejigger it a bit so a lot of the push for it was internal? Officers within the military being the ones to say it was from higher-ups who were to busy playing politics, possibly with the president musing that this was done apparently out of genuine believe of such rather than people looking for a promotion.
Still thinking about this, by the way. I think I know how to make an edit so I'm not accidentally implying it as hard without making a serious change to the worldbuilding.
Just checking, is circuit breaker coolant a thing that exists? Because at first glance it seems like the sort of thing that you get sent to find as a prank - though I don't know enough (or anything really) about electric wiring much less building electric wiring to know for sure.
Just checking, is circuit breaker coolant a thing that exists? Because at first glance it seems like the sort of thing that you get sent to find as a prank - though I don't know enough (or anything really) about electric wiring much less building electric wiring to know for sure.
Problem is she'll probably come back with transformer insulation oil. Which is used in this type of equipment, how will they take it when she succeeds in the futile task.
Shocked she never heard of going to get flight line, or prop wash, if not searching for some grid squares.
Still she's definitely got good instincts that something's off about the request.
The icecream trap might fail now as conveniently placed icecream in a straight line is very strange.
Guess super strength isn't that useful when you need a small amount of force. Poor Trinitite, sent on a goose chase to get her out from underfoot. I wonder if it's going to get noticed she's great at tasks that need strength but bad at tasks that need fine control? Which would for sure be another detail someone might notice if they are unsure if she's human.
See now, Triti is relatively Naive and innocent. If a person in charge tells you to do a thing, you do your best to do the thing. Plus her previous chain of command did not encourage the lower level plebs to think their superiors were making jokes... Even if they were making jokes, because who defies a Princess?
"Get a team on this." The President ordered. "I'd prefer a public manhunt, but the Admiral had a point about panic. Can you do this covertly?"
"It will be slow and difficult." She admitted. "This Abyssal doesn't have any old contacts, bank accounts, or electronics. We'll have to do this the old fashioned way, I think." She shook her head. "I'll get some good people on it, Mister President. You won't have to worry for too long."
I find it hilarious that after blasting MacKey on the 'hired a private investigator' thing, they then immediately turn around and basically go 'under the circumstances, the only way to do this is by being PI's and doing what they would do'.
Like, really, you'll get some 'good people' on it will you? I have a question miss; do you actually have any people who are experienced at locating individuals with no 'civilization presence' through basic in-person investigative techniques? And are any of those people just PI's that you hired upon realizing that none of the people you already had knew how to do that, because no-one has had to track down a genuinely 'dark\off the grid' individual since the early 90s.
The only people in the country who have any actual experience at shit like this are private investigators; I wouldn't be at all surprised if they end up firing MacKey's PI only to re-hire them within 24 hours because it turns out that they are one of the very few people who actually have genuine first-hand experience at tracking down individuals with zero documentation.
I am curious, has that been stated by Lewis Caroll at some point? Because I have been told there are many theories, including that Alice in Wonderland was the author's way to rant about mathematics...
There are plenty of references, at least. For instance, there's the Caucus-Race, the trial...Not sure if you can apply it to the entire work, but it's a significant element.
Caroll (Dodgson's pen name) wrote Alice in Wonderland as a rant against what he perceived to be ridiculously stupid parts of mathematics; non-euclidean mathematics and imaginary numbers especially.
That does not mean he was above making some political commentary along the way, because he wasn't and he did. So while the core of the story is about how modern mathematics is stupid and dumb and makes no sense, more than a little bit of it is also satirical about how British politics are stupid and dumb and we would all be better off if all the politicians got decapitated.
In short; saying that Alice in Wonderland is a rant against modern mathematics is correct and saying that it is a satirical political commentary on contemporary British politics is also correct, because the story is in fact both of those things. (And a few other things on the side, Caroll was not at all shy about throwing shade on things he thought were stupid, and that category evidently contains quite a few things indeed.)
See now, Triti is relatively Naive and innocent. If a person in charge tells you to do a thing, you do your best to do the thing. Plus her previous chain of command did not encourage the lower level plebs to think their superiors were making jokes... Even if they were making jokes, because who defies a Princess?
Indeed, the Abyssal command structure doesn't seem to expect low-level soldiers to think for themselves, this is probably because the most basic low-level Abyssal units (Destroyers, generally) aren't really capable of thinking for themselves; an I-Class is basically a metal shark with guns and torpedoes. Even the Light Cruisers aren't much for intelligence, it's not until you hit the Heavy Cruisers that Abyssals start demonstrating anything remotely resembling human-equivalent intelligence, and it is probably not a coincidence that the Heavy Cruisers are also when the Abyssals start having actual human bodies instead of just a pile of teeth and guns and random limbs.
So most likely, Trini isn't familiar with troll bait like headlight fluid, because that's not something Abyssals do due to the lower levels of Abyssal being too dumb to figure out anything more complicated than being pointed at a target and told to go fuck that up.
I'm a little surprised that on such a busy job site she wasn't sent off to the next work crew; I look forward to her report to the site supervisor; I suspect someone wearing a blue hat is going to be on the receiving end of some unhappy words.
