Part 21
"Get up nuggets," grunted Jersey, her shapely form looming over the three destroyers—and one escort carrier—sleeping in a tightly-packed ball in the middle of the floor.
"Grrhm," replied White, burrowing her face deeper into Hoel's chest and dragging her tomcat plushie over to shade her eyes.
Jersey rolled her eyes, taking a long sip from the carafe of awful-tasting black guck the Navy tried to pass off as coffee. "Hey, Taffies," she said, prodding Johnston's back with the tip of her running shoe.
The destroyer growled, flopping out of the dense destroyer cuddle-pile and landing flat on her back. "'time's it?" she mumbled, rubbing at her eyes as she stared up at Jersey.
"AM," said the battleship, taking another long gulp of the over-caffiniated sludge, "Very very AM."
Johnston grumbled something under her breath.
"C'mon, we gotta hit the docks," said Jersey, her hand resting on the crook of her hip, one eyebrow creeping up as she smirked at the little destroyer.
For a second Johnston just stared in incomprehension at the battleship. Then her tired mind slowly put the pieces together. "OH!" she chirped, almost bouncing up onto her feet and tearing over to her dresser, "OH! Okay! Lemme get changed!"
—|—|—
"I thought you meant
our docks," grumbled Johnston, her shoulders slack as she held her bath caddy in one hand, her shoes softly padding against the concrete as she lagged at the back of Jersey's little flotilla.
"The hell would I mean that?" said Jersey, glaring at her carafe as if she could refill it by sheer force of personality.
"Because someone likes you, Jersey!" cooed Hoel, deftly dodging Johnston's sloppy jab with an effortless side-step.
"Yeah!" said White, bouncing over to give Jersey—or her belly, at least—a hug, "You're really cool!"
Jersey rolled her eyes, ruffling White's hair with the hand not occupied by her former beverage. "Stop it, nuggets. I get enough of that sempai bullshit from Fubuki."
"What's sempai?" asked Heermann, absent-mindedly tapping at her chin
"Good fucking question," said Jersey, wordlessly foisting her carafe on a passing sailor.
For a brief moment, the four girls and their moderately more mature minder walked in silence.
"Uh, Jersey?" asked Hoel, trotting over to walk abreast of the battleship.
"Hmm?"
"Oh, I thought you'd fallen asleep…" the destroyer bit back a giggle.
"Hardy har," groaned Jersey, rolling her eyes as she swatted at the destroyer's flaming little ponytail.
"Jersey! Look at those!" said Hoel, tugging at the battleship's sleeve and frantically pointing out across the sound. Tiny tugboats festooned with rubber bumpers and spot lights gently guided a massive bulk freighter into formation.
"It's so huge!" said Heermann, her jaw going slack as she stared at the monster of a freighter. It was little more than a massive floating box shaped in a general boat-like manner at the stem and stern.
"How do those float?" said White, her enormous eyes bouncing between the cargo ship with its mottled camouflage and Jersey's icy blue eyes.
"It doesn't," said Jersey, tossing a wave to the tug crews—as if they'd even be able to notice it. "It's just so ugly the water repels it."
White doubled over in snorted giggles, and even Heermann had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing.
"Hey, who's that?" said Hoel, pointing to the silvery-haired figure standing by the railing, his gaze apparently fixed on the convoy slowly forming up in the pre-dawn gloom.
"That's, uh," Jersey squinted. Thanks to her radar, her night vision was stellar. But picking out a single human-sized form was still tricky, even for her. "That's professor Crowning," she concluded.
"Who?" chirped White.
"He's a, uh… friend of mine," said Jersey. She didn't really feel like explaining the whole story of how she came to be just the minute. "Long story."
"Oh?" said Johnston, her eyebrows bouncing so fast the threatened to bounce right off her face.
"Not like that," said Jersey, rolling her eyes as she trotted over to the professor. "Now run along and find Naka."
"But-" Johnston's voice abrupt stopped as Hoel slapped her hand over the girl's mouth and dragged her off towards the water.
"Yeah…" sighed Jersey to herself, slipping her hands into the pockets of her shorts, her fingers slapping out a simple tune against her thighs. For a moment, she just stood in silence, watching her breath turn to fog in the early-morning chill. It was comforting, in a weird sort of way. It reminded her of smoke curling out of her stacks.
"Fuck it," she breathed, scuffing her shoe against the concrete and walking over to where Crowning was standing. "Hey. It's like… two, shouldn't you be sleeping?"
Crowning laughed, his shoulders shaking just so as he stared out across the sound. "I was barely sleeping
before I flew across the continent." He glanced over at her, a his face ruddy from the cold, his mouth set in a bemused smirk. "I could ask the same of you."
Jersey shrugged, resting her bare forearms on the railing. "Navy Coffee.. like… twelve gallons of it."
"I thought you drank real coffee now."
"Not enough caffeine for this," said Jersey, pursing her lips as she blew a long stream of steam into the chilly air.
"Jersey?"
"Yeah?"
Crowning didn't say anything for a second. His lips quivered wordlessly as he pieced together his thoughts into a coherent sentence. "It's thirty degrees out."
Jersey nodded, "Thirty-one by my count."
"And…" Crowning cracked a smile, "You're wearing shorts."
Jersey looked down at herself, arching her back so she could get a good look at the bits of navy-blue fabric allegedly covering her toned legs. "Yeah?" she said, looking back to him. "And a scarf. We're sailing up to the Arctic, dude."
Crowning sighed, shaking his head with the same wry smile, "Forget I even asked."
Jersey smiled, "Yeah…" she scuffed her shoe against the concrete, watching Naka corral the destroyers into formation with surprising ease. The little singing traffic cone could make her voice
dance if she wanted it too. "Yeah, I think I can manage that."
"I'll, uh… I'll be here when you get back," said Crowning, rubbing his hands together to warm them up. "Maybe even bring you a few friends."
"Yeah?" said Jersey, smiling to herself.
"Yeah," said Crowning, "We're, uh… trying to figure out how you did it. We'll, uh… we'll figure it out."
Jersey smiled, "I'm sure you will, doc," she said, leaning over to plant a quick kiss on his bearded cheek. "I want that back if you don't."
—|—|—
"And if you look off your port wing, you'll see the friendly guns of Fort Warden watching us swabbies do the
real work."
"Jersey…" Naka hung her head, cradling her perfectly-styled hair in her gloved hands. "What are you doing?"
"Do you
know how much coffee I've had?" said the battleship, waving her hands in inarticulate gestures of largeness as she cruised beside a massive bulk carrier.
"It's a lot!" chimed in Johnston. The little destroyer gave Naka a brief wink before turning her eyes to the sky, chewing on her lip as she searched for hostile aircraft to shred.
"It's fine," said Jersey, waving to the recently refortified position. The sung was still hanging low against her back, but there was enough light to make out the spiky shapes of 155mm artillery pieces, and the chunky shapes of what Jersey assumed were some kind of AShM launchers. "I do it out of love."
"Go Navy! Beat Army!" chorused Johnston, Hoel, White, and even Heermann.
"Hell yeah," said Jersey, smirking as she waved at the soldiers manning their guns. She glanced over her shoulder, watching Fubuki and Yuudachi herd the last few lumbering cargo ships though their turn. The early-morning sun was just starting to glitter though the shimmering glass towers of Seattle, and even
she could admit it was a-
Wait.
Jersey squinted, staring back towards the city at the little speck steaming towards the convoy. "Yo, Admiral?"
"Williams here, what's up?"
"We brought everything we're supposed to, right?"
"Uh… that's-" a pause
"That's affirm, Jersey. Why do you ask?"
"There's a boat steaming up the sound, looks like it's vectoring towards us. Bearing one, uh… one-six-four magnetic, range one-seven nautical miles and closing at two-six knots."
"That's… that's not us." another pause, probably conferring with the harbor master to find out who's dumb enough to -
"Jersey, general quarters!"
"What?" demanded Jersey, heeling over in a hard turn to get into a firing position.
"Our scopes are clear."
"SHHHIIIIT," hissed Jersey. That wasn't possible, that
couldn't be possible. Abyssal
can'tmanifest
behind defenses, they just
can't! "Buki! Poi! Break formation and engage, if it's got longlances they might already be in the water."
"Hai!" said the two destroyers in harmony, peeling off in opposite directions to confuse the abyssal's firing solution.
Jersey hissed another stream of profane oaths, none of which was distinct to be made out. With all the cargo ships between her and the abyssal, her radar had to much crud to wade though to give her a clean firing solution. Destroyers were wading into the fight without her! Ag-wait.
She squinted at the tiny ship, cursing the lumbering bulk carriers as their frantic—yet
painfully slow—evasive maneuver brought them though her sight line. One small-caliber turret on the bow, another on the stern, single stacker without much superstructure to speak of…
"For fucks sake…" Jersey sighed, shaking her head as she burst out in uncontrollable laughter, "Buki, Poi, disengage."
"Hai!" the two IJN destroyers didn't waste a second turning to rejoin the convoy. In fact… Jersey was rather certain they were steaming flat-out to link back up with her. Not that she'd blame them. If she was facing… well,
that, she'd be scared too.
"WHAT?" Bellowed Johnston, "We're letting the bastard… not die!"
Jersey just rolled her eyes. The so-called 'abyssal' was close enough for Jersey to make out her features. She wasn't much older than White, and her bouncy blond hair streamed back in the wind as she ran towards the convoy. Her little arms flailed in the air like pinwheels as she sprinted her little heart out.
"Nice to see you again, kiddo," said Jersey, smiling as she lazily turned around, letting the newcomer catch her breath.
"WHOSIT!" shouted Johnston, "Jersey! If you need me! I can be there in… like… now!"
The newcomer doubled over as she tried to catch her breath. Her splinter-camo skirt was splashed with salt around the hem, and she wore a far to large USMC jacket over her scuffed-up sailor top. She looked up at Jersey with a huge-eyed smile, holding her hand up to ask for a few more seconds to catch her breath.
"Dammit, Johnston, stand down," said Jersey, stifling a laugh as she lazily pulled along side the idling girl. "You okay, kiddo?"
The girl nodded, "I- I was worried you guys were gonna leave without me."
"HOLY CARP!" screamed Johnston, "I KNOW THAT VOICE!"
Then all three taffies, plus little White, all but exploded in cheerful giggles, "SAMMY!"
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Don't really have an opinion on ship boys either way myself.
Maybe I can just see it from both sides. Russian ships
are male, technically. On the other hand, it's just funky to only have Russia have ship boys, and then it opens a whole can of worms as to if anyone else can do it. Like in KCQ, which is just
odd with Harder/Hamp since there's...like...no precedent for it.
But then again, for a joke, I totally see big burly Russian Ship Men as hilarious
Yeah, but in KCQ Harder and Hamp are hilarious. *sluuuuuuurp*
