Our Bonds

Regarding the operation, Maizuru Naval District has been ordered to standby for sorties. We have been assigned to assist as 'friend fleets', which essentially means we will be supporting the various fleets during the night. Brunei Anchorage will be the first, seeing as an acursed Abyssal Mediterranean Princess controls the area where their mission takes places. That thing is abnormally tough, even for an Abyssal Princess. The girls will be equipped with night battle equipment, including star shells, searchlights, radars, SCAMP, and night planes. Of course, non-combat personnel and shipgirls who are not combat-ready won't be participating. They will be tasked to guard the base until Azur Lane's Operation Thorn Heart is complete. Akashi had made improvements to the steel net surrounding our perimeter. It has now been electrified. Theoretically, this should be enough to drive off Beast Abyssals, or at least paralyze them. Nobody, and nothing, likes to get shocked by a 6000 volt steel alloy net.

Anyway, when a beast abyssal has been caught and paralyzed in the electric net, those remaining in base can begin their assault. It could take a while, but it's better than leaving it in our net. If the Beast Abyssal manages to break free, the base's new defensive weapons will be activated. The Beast Abyssal will be attacked by Fairy-operated 35.5mm guns with AP shells, Quadruple-Torpedo launchers, LBAS planes and sea mines. We only have a small window before the Abyssal recovers and starts going berserk, so time is of essence in this case. This strategy is courtesy of Yokosuka Engineering, who experimented with this tactic and reported a 99% effectiveness. The 1% was when a Beast Abyssal broke free and recovered too quickly.

While the girls have their roles to play, I will taking care of this lost little puppy. The next day, Shigure has recovered. As expected of Rei, her medicine was really effective. Now, it's my turn,

"Umm... Admiral? What did I do to deserve this?" (Shigure)

A confused Shigure sat on my lap while I pet her,

"I haven't done anything yet. All I did was cause trouble for everyone. I don't-" (Shigure)

"Shush. Just sit here and don't say a word."

"But-" (Shigure)

"Ah-pap-pap. Quiet. Just enjoy the petting."

She is putting up a bit of resistance. For some reason, she keeps saying she doesn't deserve being me petting and caring for her. Compared to the days before, she is slightly more responsive. I guess she really was affected by the fever back then. This is good progress. At least she doesn't hole herself up in my room anymore. Since it's cold, I decided to do her pampering while under the Kotatsu.

"Is it warm enough? Do you want to turn up the heat?"

"N-no... I'm alright. It's pretty warm already." (Shigure)

"Okay. Then let's remain like this for a while."

Shigure is very fidgety today. She probably feels like she doesn't deserve this treatment. She has been saying a lot of negative things for a while now. Things like 'I'm not worthy' and I only cause trouble for everyone'. I keep shutting them down though.

"Admiral, what about your work?" (Shigure)

"I will do them later. There isn't much anyway."

"I-is that so?" (Shigure)

One will often lets their mind wonder when they have nothing to do. Since Shigure is no longer going out to the frontlines, I better find something for her to focus on even if only temporary.

"Do you want to help me with my work?"

"Can I?" (Shigure)

"Yep. Give me sec."

Uwah! It's freezing! I better grab my doc.u.ments and hurry back to our little comfort zone.

Since we are doing work, it's better if we sat separately. I let Shigure be in charge of the resource reports while I handle the Friend Fleet formation planning.

I will need to adjust the fleet according to the guidelines and scenario. Each fleet needs to have at least one destroyer and one light cruiser. The remaining slots can be filled with other ship types. A torpedo squadron, an carrier fleet and a battleship fleet... I guess these three are my only options.

I glanced at Shigure. She is concentrating on the reports. She looks happy reading and writing notes. Resource reports tell us how much resources we had at the start, how much we used, how and when they have been used, and how much do we have left. It's a bit like accounting, how we have to make sure everything matches with our records. Any discrepancies will need to be investigated, which is a pain, since Akashi and Yuubari keeps coming with new projects and experiments without telling anyone. Because of these two, we usually have discrepancies regarding fuel and steel. Shigure seems to be happily calculating them right now.

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"Finally we're done."

I lazily plopped onto the Kotatsu top. I have created thirteen fleets, three each of the four-part operation and one to deal with the Siren construct in the Philippines. That last one wasn't needed but I have something I want to do there. I will submit a request later. The girls in that fleet will definitely be pleased.

"Uhmm... We are done for the day..." (Shigure)

She looks so sad now. She stared outside the window, looking towards the sky. Well, that's only one thing I can do.

I reached out and pet her head. Shigure looked at me, with tears in her eye. She scoot over to me and the both of us quietly enjoyed each others company.