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Belated Battleships (KanColle) [REHOST]

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guessing drill, seems like a lot of guys standing out in the open with their thumbs up their asses for that to be combat.
 
There are also photos of her turrent (in surprisingly good shape) and one of her quad bofors as well as a toolbox that helped identify the wreck.
 
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Aftershock
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    • At long last, Jersey had found an isle of dignity in the vast churning sea of utter humiliation that was being forced to wear a Tiara by Jane and getting tricked into drinking liquid-Naka punch instead of something properly bitter and amber. Cake.

    Jane had, somehow, fabricated a cake of truly epic proportions. It was a massive layer-cake topped by the same miniature simulacrum of Mutsu that'd been guarding the punch bowl earlier and a small doll of Admiral Richardson wearing inexplicably soggy pants. It was also rich as fuck. Most of the human guests could only get a few bites of the creamy, buttery chocolate down, and even the ship girls were having trouble indulging their usual gluttony.

    "You know," Jersey didn't have an ounce of trouble speaking through her forkload of cake. It was so hearty that even her enormous appetite could only tolerate a slow, measured intake. She'd thought limiting herself to a single slice would be agony, but after eating barely half her stomach felt like it was full of lead shot. "You make pretty goddamn good cake."

    "Zona!" A very small standard battleship perched behind Jersey's hated tiara smacked her right between the hair tufts.

    "Okay!" Jersey winced. Arizona's miniature image might be tiny, but she packed a hell of a right hook. "A pretty gosh-darn good cake. Better?"

    For a while, the small standard said nothing. Then at long last a half-hearted "…zona." slipped through her tiny lips.

    Jersey rolled her eyes and indulged herself in another morsel of the delicious cake. If she kept eating like this, she'd end up looking like Mutsu—if Mutsu wasn't surrounded by fawning destroyers. Poor Mutsu, it seemed like everyone on the islands had come to wish her well, but the battleship was clearly desperate to get away and enjoy her wedding night.

    "Excuse me, Commander?" A ragged-looking chief coughed nervously at Jersey's side. His fatigues were drenched from the howling rain coming down outside, and his sodden face looked not unlike a wet ferret.

    "Chief?" Jersey swallowed her bite, and offered what was left of her cake to the damp sailor. "I… can't believe I'm saying this, but there's no way I can finish this. You want some?"

    "Um," The sailor bit his lip. "No, ma'am. It's… We got a message for you." He handed her a damp piece of paper. "Forwarded from Pearl."

    "Pearl?" Jersey cracked a grin. "What's Mo gotten herself in—" The battleship's voice died. Her brow knit and her posture stiffened as she read the message. Wet paper crinkled as her hand tensed, and her neck pulsed with the clenching of her jaw. "Thank you chief," she said with cold dispassion, "Dismissed."

    "Ma'am."

    It didn't take long for Jersey to find Naka. She was taller virtually everyone in attendance, and Naka's dayglow dress was impossible to miss. The little cruiser was in the middle of her live-broadcast—that, or she was just fawning to the camera for no reason, which Jersey wasn't completely willing to discount.

    "Naka," Jersey forced a smile at the little traffic cone, "Um…" she squinted at Naka's camera minion. "You."

    "Hi~ Hi~," Naka winked and threw up a peace sign, "Everyone, it's Nyan~ Jersey-chan!"

    "Whatever," Jersey didn't even scowl. That was enough to drain the color from Naka's face. The battleship turned her back to the camera and leaned in close enough to shadow her lips. "You need to stop this right now," she whispered so only Naka could hear. "Something came up."

    "O-okay," said Naka. She took a breath and forced a bubbly smile. "I'm sorry, Naka-nation, Naka-chan's got veery important navy things to do~"

    "And we're clear!" said her camera minion.

    "Git!" Jersey barked, jabbing a finger at the opposite end of the hall. He didn't need any further encouragement.

    "So," Naka's mask had fallen and she worried the tip of her bold black tie. "What's… what's going on, Jersey?"

    Jersey put her massive arm around the slight cruiser and gently shepherded her towards a vacant corner of the hall. "I'm sorry," she said, and handed Naka the message.

    "For…" Naka smoothed the crumpled paper with the heel of her hand and read it. Then she read it again. And again. She didn't make a sound, but her eyes tore through the words over and over, clearly hoping to catch some mistake she's made. Praying that the message didn't really say what it so clearly said. A quiet "oh" was her only response.

    "She went down swinging," said Jersey. "I… I didn't really know Sendai, but—"

    "No," Naka shook her head, then nodded. "I mean… you're right. It's how she wanted to go out."

    Jersey let out a long, slow breath. "Look… we've gotta weigh anchor in…" she glanced at one of her several watches, "three hours if we're gonna make our rendezvous. But if there's anything I or the girls can do before then, just let me know."

    Naka sniffed, and nodded. "I… I think I'd, uh, rather just see Jintsuu."

    "Okay," said Jersey. But she didn't let Naka go without a hug.

    —|—|—​
    Alaska was in the middle of a truly first-class cuddle session with her boyfriend when she got the news. She'd been so sleepy resting on his lap, that she hadn't even registered that Sara was speaking until the third time repetition. But once she did, she couldn't move fast enough.

    She loved Cameron of course, and she considered napping on his lap while enjoying a sunbeam one of life's ultimate pleasures. But she'd know Atago for longer. Far longer, considering how incredibly short her life had been. If it wasn't for Atago, she never would've worked up the courage to say hi to Cameron. Atago was more than her friend. She was Alaska's best friend. And now she needed comfort.

    Alaska tore through the halls, only to stop short right outside the door to her shared room. According to Sara, Atago had excused herself the moment she got the news, and nobody had been able to get her to talk since.

    The door was already ajar, and Alaska pushed it the rest of the way open with the toe of her sneaker. "'Tago?" she said quietly.

    Atago was sitting on the side of her bed, glassy eyes staring into the infinite distance while her gloved hands worried something. A photograph, from the crawfish dinner she and Maya shared just a few days ago.

    Alaska didn't know what to say. Even if she did, she didn't think she could get the words out. So instead of saying anything, she just closed the door behind her and sat down next to her best friend in the whole wide world. She didn't touch Atago, not quite. She just hovered nearby, letting her friend know she was there.

    For what felt like hours, the two cruisers sat in silence. Slowly, Alaska's breathing caught up with Atago's, and the rise and fall of both girl's chests settled to a perfect rhythm. She leaned over, her snowy-white hair kissing Atago's brilliant sunny blond locks.

    "You know," said Alaska, surprising even her. "I had a sister. Her name was Guam. She didn't really… do much. That sounds horrible, and… and I love her so much, but it's true. Neither of us really did."

    Atago sniffled and let her head fall against Alaska's shoulder.

    "We weren't in the war," said Alaska. "Not… not like some of the other girls. We were just… sorta… there. At the end. And then we got scrapped. And… mostly forgotten after that." She shrugged. She wasn't bitter, or even melancholy. If anything, it made the large cruiser happy to know her country had been safe enough it didn't need ships like her anymore.

    "But not Maya," said Alaska. "Her convoy made it to pearl safely, you know. People are going to live because of her. And they're going to have babies."

    Atago snorted a single quiet chuckle.

    "And those people are going to grow up and have babies," said Alaska. "And… and then thosepeople will have babies. For… for hundreds of years, thousands of people will look back and say 'I'm alive because of Maya'. And…" The large cruiser sighed, "I… if that were me… I'd be okay with that."

    Atago smiled a ghost of a smile. "Thanks, 'laska."

    "Any time, 'tago."
     
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