Chapter Four:
"It feels so odd to be up here," James muttered, ever so softly, as he stood on the deck of USS
Saratoga.
Stars stretched above him, as a cool night breeze tugged at his uniform. He hadn't had time to just...relax...like this, for some time. A week, maybe? Keeping track of time when he was putting
so much work into improving things, was rather difficult at best. Being able to just stand on Sara's deck and look up at the night sky, was a lot more relaxing for him than he would normally admit. Especially since light pollution wasn't near as bad as he remembered...he could actually
see the stars, quite well actually. It served to remind him of the fact he was in the past, just as much as the gentle roll of the
Lexington-class carrier under his feet. He could still hear the bustle of the night watch moving around as well, but that had almost faded into the background, as James let his mind
rest.
He wouldn't deny that he needed that rest.
I've been working non-stop. There is so much to do...keeping everyone informed, trying to change tactics to what I remember working...it's never ending!
Sighing softly, he turned his head from the vista of stars and towards the well-lit island he was standing on. The bridge was manned by the night watch, who were well-disciplined enough to not stare at him as he stood outside. The Admiral was thankful for that, since it meant he wasn't being distracted. He had enough distraction, from the message that had finally driven home that he needed to
stop and
rest.
"Are you okay, Admiral?"
The familiar soft voice had James turn his head from the message crumpled in his hands, to the woman standing next to him. Sara had a worried expression on her face, and had apparently come looking for him since he hadn't returned to his cabin yet today.
Casting another look back at his crew, who had made no signs of looking in his direction, James sighed softly, "Not particularly, no. It wasn't exactly when I thought but..."
"Sir?"
In lieu of risking being caught 'talking to himself', the Admiral just unfurled the paper and held it up like he was reading it. Sara had to get close- something that had her blushing crimson, he noted -to read it, but it was safer that way.
"...France, Admiral?"
James nodded with another sigh, pulling the message back into his pocket, "Yup. I expected them to fall sooner than that, but me just
being here is going to change things...at least, to some extent. I hope that it doesn't change the date of you know what, or all I've done is pointless."
Intellectually, the Admiral knew that just because France
seemed to take another day or four to surrender- June 26th, as opposed to June 22nd -didn't mean much. It may be as simple as taking longer for the news to arrive. It may not. But logically, even if things
were changing in the Butterfly Effect style, Pearl wasn't likely to be one. The Japanese attacked when they did, for very good reason. Still...the idea that just
being in the past was changing things...worried him, more than he'd like to admit.
He sure as hell had nothing to do with events on the other end of the world, after all.
"You're worried that what you remember isn't going to be enough, aren't you?" Sara whispered, not moving from her spot next to her Admiral.
"Yeah," James leaned back, worried expression on his face as he looked up at the stars, "Yeah, I am. All I have is those dates and numbers. I'm not experienced in...all of this."
Here, he waved a hand over the darkened deck below him, and the dim running lights of other ships in their patrol formation.
"I commanded you girls, and that was nothing like commanding an entire fleet of full-scale warships. Leave alone doing it without all the technology I grew up on...radios alone would make it so much easier, but we don't
have the radios I'm used to. It's...not easy. Not at all."
Sara smiled, softly brushing her shoulder against her Admiral's side, "I'm not."
"You..."
"I trust you Admiral. You may not know as much as my other Admirals did, but you know stuff they don't. Some of those techniques...that 'Weave' in particular...they're very useful. My pilots don't know where you came up with them, but they love them. I think they're jealous they didn't come up with them themselves," Sara's smile was brilliant, lit up as it was by the lights of her bridge, "And I've looked at your notes. Some of these formations are quite innovative. I'm sure they come from future commanders, but even so, even if you didn't create them yourself...they help, a lot."
James couldn't help but smile back, the enthusiasm reminding him of
his Sara. The woman in front of him wasn't the same, he had long since noticed that. But at times like this, he could see the confident girl he remembered shining through. Patting her shoulder, the Admiral turned to walk back into the bridge.
"Thanks for that Sara," James let out one last whisper, before nodding at his night watch, and moving back into the ship herself.
He'd spent enough time sightseeing, time to get back to work. He may be running himself ragged, but at least he had a purpose to his madness. Half-remembered theories and maneuvers from training...he had to put them into practice. So many of these had been developed during the War, and so many had been developed in response to the Japanese- notably the Thatch Weave that Sara had mentioned -that introducing them early would drastically improve the situation. He knew that most of them wouldn't spread far beyond
Saratoga and maybe
Lexington before the war started, but every little bit helped.
And the only thing keeping him going was improving the lot of these girls and their crews. If he stopped to think about his situation, stuck in the past where his great-grandfather was
younger than him. And where he had to fight the Japanese, whom he had many friends among...it would overwhelm him. The idea of possibly sinking the likes of Akagi or Kongou, made him feel sick almost as much as the idea of Ari and Utah still being destroyed.
I'm not cut out for this, I know
that. But I'm the one here, and the only one who can do anything to improve the odds for my
girls and my
men. I have to focus on that.
That, and the lingering worry that Abyssals may still appear. He didn't know if his jaunt into the past was their doing or not, but the odds that it
wasn't related to the still-slumbering enemy of humanity...well, they weren't great.
"I think it's time I taught you about the Abyssals," James spoke up, once the two were safely alone in his cabin.
"The Abyssals?" Sara had a worried look on her face now.
But it was nothing on the entirely serious expression her Admiral wore.
"Yes. The Abyssals...the most dangerous threat to
all of us."
"I don't understand it sir. No one is operating the sets, but it still shows signs of use. Like a ghost."
"Nonsense, no ghost could possibly exist, leave alone use our radio."
"I know sir, but I'm telling you,
someone used the TBS and it wasn't me."
The commanding officer of USS
Utah, one John Kirkpatrick, shook his head, "Then we have someone deciding to play a joke. And when I find them, they'll wish they hadn't."
A shudder ran through the radio operator, though he hid it well, "Right. Well, I'll keep an eye on the set and make sure no one else uses it sir."
"Good man."
Nodding at his subordinate, John left the cramped radio room, a late retrofit to such an old ship. It barely saw any use for the most part, and it was easy to forget
Utah even
had it. His ship wasn't a frontline combatant, so the fact she even had it had more to do with the need to make sure she could communicate when training other crews. Which made the idea that someone was using it all the harder to believe. Not very many of the crew were even trained on how to operate the Talk Between Ships set. The few who
were should really know better than to mess around with it.
John wasn't a harsh commander, or so he liked to believe. But he wouldn't tolerate people pushing his patience either. His crew was supposed to be disciplined, peacetime and training ship be damned. Just because they wouldn't see active combat aboard
Utah didn't mean they could slack off and play around like that! So he was going to gather each and every one of the crewmembers he knew were trained in operating that set, and figure out which one of them thought it would be a good idea.
I don't have a choice anyway. Command is on me to find out what's going on.
It didn't help that the Radio Station had picked up signal static. It wasn't like outright communication was going on between the ships, but at the same time, there was strange static in the airwaves all around the harbor. Static that had no definable source, but seemed to match up with TBS sets.
"Someone's playing the biggest prank in history, and I'll find out who it is," the man muttered darkly, as he walked down the length of his old ship.
What he didn't notice, was that he had a figurative and literal shadow trailing him.
"This is inconvenient," Utah herself muttered, following behind her Captain, "Very inconvenient. I hadn't realized they could recognize we were talking together."
This threw a wrench in her plans. She had been coordinating with the other girls, especially Arizona, on a way to talk to their commanders. But she didn't like the idea that the radio communications could be overheard. Granted, it hadn't reached the point where they
could be overheard, or there would be a witch hunt for women aboard the ships. But the point remained.
That being said...
"On the other hand, this could work in my favor," a small smile crossed her face, as the aging battleship brushed some of her grey hair from her eyes, "If my Admiral and the others can realize we are communicating, it's a step towards
talking to them. And I need to warn him...warn him about the attack. I know that Admiral Thompson doesn't want to risk us sortieing, and I understand that...but..."
Cutting her monologue off, Utah held a hand to her chest. She could feel the beat of her heart, strong and steady. And she knew that if things occurred the way Saratoga's Admiral said they would, that heart would stop beating...just as the same would be true for Arizona and Oklahoma. And stopping that, was the reason she needed to talk to her Captain. Make him understand what was coming, and how to stop it. Or at least, mitigate the damage. She was confident that she could convince him not to ask for the exact date...just a greater preparedness would be enough. It
had to be enough.
With that in mind, she moved to get in front of John, who made no signs of noticing her.
"Can you hear me Admiral?" Utah asked, focusing on making her voice heard. Somehow.
"I swear, if this is Blake again, that kid is going to have to deal with a lot more than a slap on the wrist this time..." John darkly muttered, walking right past Utah.
Who sighed, and moved to be in front of him again, "Sir! Please, tell me you at least hear
something! I need you to hear me!"
"And now I think there's flies in here," the Commander frowned, slapping at the air by his ear.
Well, that was
something at least.
"At least you're hearing something sir," Utah sagged slightly, as she placed a hand on her Captain's shoulder, "I can take that much, at least for now. We have time until the attack."
What she hadn't expected, was John to grind to a halt, his face going pale as a sheet. His brown eyes trailed down to where Utah's hand was, looking like he had seen a...
"Ghost? Something's touching me..." shaking himself free, the career military man had an uncharacteristic look of shock on his face, "No, no. The ship is
not haunted. That's...not possible. No, I'm just imagining things. Too much work lately, that's it. Too much work..."
Continuing to mutter under his breath, the man moved down the hall, not once looking back. For her part, Utah looked at her hand, shock on her own pretty face. Well, if she had expected anything, it wasn't that. Feeling another body...she didn't know how to describe it. It was like nothing else she had experienced before. Utah had only ever felt her own body, both steel and flesh and bone. She had never
once felt another human before. The soft feeling, hiding strong muscles. The rough feeling of his uniform, cotton running over her fingers.
Even if the sensation had been all too temporary, she didn't know how to
feel about it.
"Is this what Saratoga feels like?" Utah wondered aloud, as she held the hand to her heart again, "To
feel someone else? Know that you're alive as more than just a mass of steel?"
If so, she could...get used to it.
"I...I don't know how to feel about what you've just told me, Admiral."
James sighed softly, as he looked at his oldest friend, "I know, it's hard to believe Sara. Trust me, I lived through it, and I still find it difficult."
"But sir...corrupted spirits? Ships that came back...wrong...and existed only to kill everything? That would gleefully slaughter civilians and soldiers alike?" Sara couldn't wrap her head around the notion.
Ships existed to serve their nations and crews, not slaughter innocent civilians. Even pirate ships surely felt remorse at what their crews made them do. Right?
"We never did truly understand the Abyssals," James frowned, looking down at his hands, "They didn't talk, they didn't try to communicate. All it was, was blood, blood and more blood with them. Any attempts at communicating ended with dead envoys. Not even Ship Girls could get through."
"Admiral?"
"I saw far too many friends, good friends, die at their hands Sara...my nightmares are still filled with glowing blue eyes. I almost lost
you on more occasions than I care to remember, before we finally started pushing them back. So many brave men, women and girls died fighting that war, but we were
winning. The Abyssals were in full retreat, and given time, we might have found their homes."
The Admiral sighed again, looking up at worry filled green eyes, a small smile crossing his face.
"But then I woke up here, aboard you. I don't know or understand the hows or whys of my situation. But I do know, that there isn't a chance in hell it doesn't involve those monsters."
Sara frowned slightly, "But if you were winning..."
"It would be in their interests to reverse the progress. I understood them better than most, if only because of how
long I served against them. I fought Abyssals off the West Coast, in South America, and finally in Yokosuka. I, along with Admiral Goto on the Japanese side, knew more about fighting them than just about anyone. Removing me from the equation..."
"Would reverse their losses?"
James nodded, "That's what I believe. Of course, I have no way to confirm that theory. Abyssals never showed anything like time travel, not in the long time I spent fighting them. Yet, I don't have any other explanation available. Why they would send me back...I may never know. But it worries me...if the Abyssals were to attack
now, we wouldn't stand a chance in hell against them. Our ship girls...outside a few outliers, the Royal Navy for the most part, were always ships from
this war."
Hesitating for a second, James looked down once more. It wasn't an easy topic to talk about...by any means.
"And those outliers, beyond older battleships like
Dreadnought or the Imperial German ships, were ships from the Age of Sail. Those girls had a lot of energy, and I respected them for that and the fact they did everything they could to help. But they were worse than useless in actual combat, even though I hate saying that. In this situation? Short of sinking our navy in the middle of a World War...I don't know what we can do. Conventional weapons were more than insufficient for combating Abyssals...it was almost suicide, with their numbers," James sighed heavily, "
Maybe weapons of this time would work better, since we rely less on electronics that could be jammed. I don't know...I don't know, and it haunts me."
That was the truth of the matter. As much as he worried about the War, and what it would put him and the girls through, he worried far more about the Abyssals. If they came back...he shuddered to think of the losses. Hundreds of thousands of sailors and soldiers could be on the seas at any given time in the mid-to-late war. All of them would be horribly vulnerable to Abyssal attacks, perhaps even more so than in
his time, thanks to the lack of truly global instant communication. And the situation for island nations...Japan was pushing herself to the realistic limits as it sat. Britain couldn't rely on a friendly France and the Channel Tunnel to supply her, when the shipping lanes were cut off.
Moreover, it would leave Germany to run rampant over Europe, along with the Soviets, because there wasn't any way the Allied Navies could manage Overlord or even Torch or Huskey, in waters teeming with Abyssals. So yes, the thought of the monsters that haunted his dreams coming back...terrified James, on so many levels.
"Oh..." Sara though, she didn't have the same fear. All she did was sit next to him on the cot, hesitantly pulling her Admiral into a hug, "Don't worry Admiral. I'm sure they won't come back...and if they do, we'll find a way to beat them. We have
you here. We won't be going in fighting them blind. You know how to fight them, and can teach us. Right?"
Flushing despite himself, the Admiral nodded, "That is true. I just don't..."
"
Don't worry sir. At least, not for now. If they come back, we can deal with it then right? For now, we need to rest and prepare for what we know is coming."
Damn Pearl Harbor...right, I can't let the Abyssals make me forget about that.
Smiling at the carrier, James nodded, and got up to prepare for sleep. He could think more on this with a clearer head in the morning...that always helped. And if the Abyssals
did come back at some point?
Well, cross that bridge when the time came.
AN: My Google-fu has failed me, when it comes to Utah's commanding officers. I have at least the name of the man in charge during the attack on Pearl, but beyond that...OC time. I try to be accurate where I can, but sometimes...yeah.
