2.05
Battleship_Fusou
(The Itty-Bitty Pretty Battleship Kitty)
- Location
- Surigao Strait
Bay of Blue Steel:
Systems Start: 2.05
(Worm/AoBS/AU)
Systems Start: 2.05
(Worm/AoBS/AU)
AN: *Coughs nervously* This should have been up weeks ago, but there's the subtle problem of me thinking that I already had posted it. Now that I've realized I hadn't, here you go. Real action will likely begin at the start of the fourth arc.
Finally, a hearty "Thank You~" to the wonderful @Kerashana for beta'ing this chapter, going over my previous chapters (which I still need to apply the suggested fixes to), and for drastically helping me smooth out the rugged plot line I had come up with for this story.
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Once I had finished my Q&A session with Armsmaster, I made my way back to my hideout. I was careful to be doubly sure that I spoofed all of the various forms of electronic tracking that tried to follow my course before finally making use of my Klein Field to vanish completely as I made a direct path back to my hideaway in the ship graveyard.
Once the door I had hidden in the hull of an old freighter had shut behind me, I felt my body lighten as the several hundred kilos of nanomaterial that composed my Rigging simply dissolved away to be used elsewhere. I noted that the lights were already on in my base and calmly entered the main living area I had set up in one of the former freighter's compartments.
"So how did your raid go?"
The bright, cheerful voice immediately pulled my attention away from my thoughts and onto the speaker. As I locked eyes with the source of the voice, I found myself pausing for a moment before I chuckled softly.
"It went fine. Armsmaster showed up as we had expected. His questions were pointed, but not demanding, not something too surprising given that Dragon was spoon feeding him the proper social cues through the whole thing. What about you though? Did you finally pick a name?"
"I did, but I'd still like to point out that this will still be like naming an alternate personality."
"Duly noted, but that doesn't matter to me. Even if you are just a different piece of me, you think for yourself, and that's enough to justify a name."
"True enough I suppose. Anyways, the name I settled on is Selene."
I paused and thought it over for a few moments before sighing softly and giving a nod of agreement as I looked over my newly named 'sister'.
Overall, Selene's mental model looked exactly like mine, only where my hair ended a few inches above my shoulders for the most part, hers extended down to just above her knees and had been pulled into a low, narrow braid. Also, where I wore the clothing I had decided upon for my costume's uniform most of the time, Selene simply preferred socks, sweats, and a short tank top. Unless she was going out.
My observations made, I flopped down into a comfortable leather chair that had literally risen from the floor as nanomaterial shifted and reconfigured to meet my requirements. I made a few adjustments to the chair's design before I made a noise of satisfaction and let my boots dissolve off of my feet, relaxing even as I brought to mind the various issues and plans Selene and I were making before I asked a question.
"So have you picked a target yet? We're starting to cut it a bit close on time before the Simurgh appears."
"I know, as for my target, I'm thinking I'll go deal with the Ash Beast first. We don't know much about it, but what we do says that the Klein Field and Wave Force Armor will be enough to deal with its power."
I nodded.
"So when do you leave, Selene?"
The smile she flashed me in return for the use of her name was brilliant.
"Seven tomorrow morning, if all goes well, I'll be back within a week."
"Might as well get your stuff together then."
"I already have."
"Then best of luck to you."
"I don't need luck Len" -I snorted at how she shortened my name- "I've got a hundred kilos of Thanatonium if anything goes wrong."
I blinked briefly in surprise at how much of the incredibly destructive material my 'sister' was taking along.
"Well I suppose that will just have to do."
"You know it."
I closed my eyes and smiled at the response and sank back further into the chair, content to relax for a bit. Ever since Selene had made herself known, managing the various plots and plans I had made and was making had become far easier. As while I certainly hadn't been strained by it, my mentality didn't fit too well with multi-tasking, much less the extreme tree diagrams that were necessary for contingencies we were preparing for every convoluted occurrence. Fortunately for me -us really- Selene's mind did suit itself well to such matters and she was in fact more than happy to deal with such things.
Creating said plans was turning out to be easier than expected too, at least for Selene. All I could really manage was a few plans that got victory, defeat, and varying degrees of the area in between. Selene was more than capable of pulling off the ridiculous 'Xanatos Gambit' and the 'Xanatos Speed Chess' I had read about at some point in my past, human life. She could and did plan for all outcomes in a conflict, but I was finding that my other half, my sister, was rather bad at adapting to things that occurred spontaneously or were completely outside of her experience. Instead, those situations were where I shined. Spontaneity and flying by the seat of my pants were the things I could do that my sister could not.
My thoughts on that issue were that between my two halves, my experiences -or at least most of the mental changes- as a warship and a human being had been separated, allowing for me to be better at adapting while Selene was better at planning. It was something that I would love to know more about, but the situation at hand left me with little chance at such knowledge. That said, it made a nice dichotomy that allowed us to work together for the best results in any situation. Something we practiced and employed regularly, like in my talk with Armsmaster just an hour earlier.
I still had a predilection for trying to plan things out myself, but at least Selene was there to make sure my plans worked. My thoughts were briefly thrown off as Selene leaned over me from the side, pulling me into a hug that I returned with only mild hesitation.
"Well I'm off, need to get through security before my flight."
"See ya later then."
I waved her goodbye and sank into my own thoughts, now more occupied by the potential mess that was my head given that there was a second, fully functional consciousness in my Core.
Wonder what the bill from a shrink would be to fix me? My bet was on twine in at least the high seven figures.
/Joking
