“GDS Tempest Eternal, Thanatos-class carrier.” She corrected, a little too boastfully.
“It’s nice to meet you, doctor.” She added. “What kind of laboratory is this?”
“Not just the station, no.” Lumi corrected by Hope’s side as she followed behind Aegis, the Titan leading the way to one of the turbolifts that would take them to the administrative tower.
“She’s also the commanding officer for us shipgirls. With how large our ranks have grown, administration apparently saw it fit to have us be our own separate branch.”
As the four of them got into said turbolift and it began ascending up the tower, Lumi continued. “We report to her, she reports to Fleet Admiral Red. But you’ll see Admiral Yoshino more often.”
The cruiser sisters turned then, admiring the view of Zephyr outside the turbolift’s transparent carapace. Even with the turbolift’s incredible transit speed, it still took almost a minute for it to arrive at its destination; a lobby with various security measures.
Two heavily armored Initiative soldiers flanked the door, which was clearly marked with the identity of its owner within. They nodded to the Titan and simply let her be. Akemi had clearly notified them of the visit Aegis had planned.
VICE ADMIRAL
Amane Yoshino
“Akemi, is Admiral Yoshino available?” Aegis inquired. The reply from her was quick.
“Yes, but you will have to wait a moment.”
“But we’re still part of the Navy, right? We have to keep that, at least!” She said, more to herself than anyone else though.
Her irritations aside, she was looking forward to meeting her new commanding officer. Her hand, without realising, lifted to gently brush against the timepiece around her neck.
“Of course we’ll still be a part of the Navy. We’ll always have that.” Lumi replied, now standing beside Hope instead of having her sister cling to her side.
The raven-haired cruiser straightened her uniform a little more, and Hope did the same with her own maid outfit.
It was then that Akemi appeared fully in her own teenage avatar. “The Admiral is ready to meet you and Tempest now, Aegis.”
As if on cue, the door slid aside. Promptly, Aegis led the carrier into Admiral Yoshino’s office.
And quite an office it was. The room itself was fairly sizable, and a significant portion of the wall appeared to be one huge window with a view.
Admiral Yoshino herself was waiting, of course, standing to greet Tempest and Aegis with a smile and nod. The woman had her black hair in the same style as Lumi’s, straight and back-length. Warm brown eyes met Tempest’s.
“Good afternoon, Aegis. And our new guest. Welcome to Starbase Zephyr, Tempest Eternal. I’m Vice Admiral Amane Yoshino. Akemi has been kind enough to inform me about you. And might I say, welcome back to the shores of life.”
Tempest Eternal smartly brought herself to a salute. She felt differently about this admiral; when she looked at the officer, she didn’t feel the same godly aura as when she first met Fleet Admiral Red. One could only assume it was because of the Vice Admiral’s slightly lower rank – still fully deserving of her wholehearted respect though.
“I wish I could say I was glad to be here, Ma’am.” Tempest answered coolly. “But that would not be entirely true, and I think you understand why.”
Admiral Yoshino nodded in understanding. “Of course.”
The woman laced her hands behind her back. “I won’t lie, it’s quite a rough time we’re going through. With what we’ve been hearing out there, the Initiative’s going to have to tread on eggshells.”
A sigh escaped Admiral Yoshino. “Though since CONCORD’s handling our duties for now, I suppose we could afford to ease off the activity. They’ve got even less mercy than we do for criminals, and that’s saying something.”
A shake of the head, and Admiral Yoshino looked back to the two before her. “But I digress. Anti-piracy operations are going to start in a few days, just in our universe for now, then the others once we’re done here. Intel indicates CONCORD may have sent some their forces here as well. There’s a high likelihood that you girls will be working alongside them.”
She held up a hand for emphasis. “Be advised, CONCORD takes their duties extremely seriously. They’d give Second Fleet a run for their money. I wouldn’t normally say this, but while you’re talking with them, keep it short and professional. I don’t mind the mild way things are here, but CONCORD definitely would.”
And here Admiral Yoshino couldn’t help but mutter under her breath at that last part, though Aegis heard it easily. “Pricks.”
“So, when dealing with these allies, you would prefer us to act more… professional?” She inquired, paying no heed to the muttered insult. “That shouldn’t be difficult, after all, there’s nothing I can’t do.” She added. Perhaps some of her boastful nature was showing through again, although this seemed different.
“I’ll show everyone just what Second Fleet is made of. I wasn’t a battlegroup flagship for nothing.”
“Precisely. And speaking of your Battlegroup, well…that’s the thing. They were caught in the Event as well, and we have no way of knowing if they even returned like you did.” Admiral Yoshino explained.
She returned behind her desk. “For all we know, you may be the only one out of all of them who’s come back. Shipgirls are tricky like that.”
A few taps on the desk’s holographic keyboard brought up a display of a large list. “All that aside, the new ships we’re supposed to help test out and teach will be ready soon. Honestly, I haven’t got much to say about these operations than what you’ve probably already heard from Aegis.”
“Just…be safe out there, you two.” Yoshino said, her tone clearly concerned, but especially for Tempest.
There was another pang of guilt. The only survivor of her whole Battlegroup?
“It’ll be nice to get back out there and do something useful.” She murmured. “You don’t need to worry about us, Ma’am, we’ll be fine.”
“I’ll take your word for it, then.” Admiral Yoshino replied, nodding. “Before you go, Tempest, one thing. Aegis will be helping to teach gunnery for the new returnees over the next few days, and I recommend you attend.”
Aegis stood even straighter than before as Admiral Yoshino continued to talk to the carrier about the training exercises. “Information on this and other important activities will be uploaded to your omni-tool or haptic pod. If you don’t have either one at the moment, any replicator can fabricate them for you.”
The admiral exhaled. “Well, that is all.”
As the Vice Admiral finished speaking, Aegis mentally reviewed the relevant data on the scheduled training that she could send over to Adrianna for her to remind Tempest.
Initiative Archival Network 