Chapter Text

The New Digs

One war ends, and another begins.

The maxim of Enterprise’s existence, even the reason for the current incarnation of her existence. Weapons weren’t reached for in times of peace, after all.

“Well, at least we’re down to fighting just the one war again,” Enterprise muttered to herself. The thought of no longer having to fight the shipgirls of the Sakura Empire and Ironblood was a pleasant one, or at least it was better than the thought of having to continue fighting them and the Sirens. Enterprise, so often used as the Eagle Union's fire brigade, knew exactly how well the war against the alien menace had been going. Stalemate was perhaps the kindest word she could summon to describe it, and even that sometimes seemed far too generous.

Close at her side, she felt rather than saw Belfast eyeing her appraisingly.

“Did you say something, Miss?” she asked, ever proper and obliging. No doubt she’d heard exactly what Enterprise had said, but she had the courtesy to pretend she hadn’t. Enterprise just shook her head, dismissing it. The day was one for optimism, after all. There was no reason for her inability to forget the ever looming specter of war to put a damper on anyone’s spirit.

“Nothing important, Belfast,” she assured, and even managed a smile for her…she really needed to find what exactly she ought to call Belfast. More than her maid, certainly. Friend? That seemed the best word for it, but then it was also fell well short of the gratitude she felt she owed the Royal light cruiser.

What did one call the person who pulled them back from the brink of spiraling self-destruction? A question for later.

For the time being, the greatest share of Enterprise’s attention was taken up by the alien sensation bearing down on her neck. The collars of her uniform sported new insignia, a five pointed star in gold pinned to each collar that seemed to weigh a half ton each despite their diminutive size.

A symbol of her station, Queen Elizabeth had called it when she’d pinned them there before the grand assembly of the base’s shipgirls. The leader of the Royal Navy had made an entire ceremony out of it, all of a surprise to Enterprise, and much to her embarrassment.

‘We’ve all put our trust in you, Enterprise,’ Elizabeth had said as she’d pinned the stars to her collar, only just barely able to reach due to their difference in height. ‘It is good for rulers to keep something around to remind themselves of the responsibility that trust entails.’

She’d lightly tapped her crown with her scepter as she’d said that, a private wink shared between them as she turned to the crowd and begun the applause. Enterprise had stood there, embarrassed and touched in equal measure, as each and every shipgirl stationed on base had clapped for her.

All of which brought her to the present, striding through the Headquarters building of the newly rechristened Azur Lane Joint Base—Pacific Station. The building was mostly empty, most of the base having been given the day for themselves in the wake of Elizabeth’s secret-only-to-Enterprise ceremony and the beachside cookout that had immediately followed. In fact, she and Belfast didn’t encounter a single soul until they reached the heavy double doors that marked their destination.

Enterprise paused before knocking, her eyes wandering to slide over the freshly engraved plaque on the door.

Commander’s Office.

She swallowed, and one hand reached up to brush over the gold stars pinned to her collar. As heavy as they’d felt when Elizabeth first pinned them there, they were almost suffocating her now. Before, though she’d felt as if she was carrying the weight of victory or defeat of the whole Eagle Union Navy on her shoulders, it had been only her own actions she’d had to be responsible for. Each decision had only risked her own life.

Stepping through those doors would be the last step in accepting the responsibility for all the shipgirls under her command. Girls who had chosen her to lead them. Eagle Union, Royal Navy, even Sakura Empire and Iron Blood had agreed to follow her commands in the resumed war against the Sirens. It was…

She felt a hand come to rest on her shoulder, soft skin and gentle as any. Turning, her eyes locked with Belfast’s. The cruiser’s smile was warm and supportive, the same one she’d worn the first time she had woken Enterprise after their first battle together, and every morning since. Her eyes sparkled, and after so long together, Enterprise finally understood the meaning behind them

I’m here, they said, a sentiment both simple and impossible to put into words. Enterprise leaned into the maid’s touch, pulling strength from it. She’d kept herself separate from her comrades for so long it remained an ingrained instinct, though one she had finally accepted Belfast’s help in breaking free of.

For so long, she’d thought of her role as being a well of strength for others to draw from. With the Grey Ghost on the battlefield, the shipgirls of the Eagle Union had never needed to fear defeat. She’d been that well of strength for so long it had nearly drained her to the marrow, and even now she often forgot that she no longer had to be the endless source of strength for everyone else.

It was Belfast’s little reminders that kept her from falling back into those bad habits, even it was something as simple as ensuring she ate a proper breakfast. The cruiser’s guiding hand had been unwelcome at first, but as gentle as Belfast encouragements were, there was hardened steel hiding just behind the silks. It felt nice knowing that she had someone willing to yank her by the tie and drag her back onto the right path if she ever strayed too far.

It was something she had lacked since Yorktown’s crippling. It made her feel less alone.

Enterprise smiled back at Belfast and placed a hand over the maid’s. They stood there together for a long moment, how long exactly Enterprise couldn’t say. When Enterprise finally let her hand slip away from Belfast’s, she felt lighter. The stars on her collar no longer felt quite so much like a noose around her neck. She even stood straighter, though she herself failed to notice.

Enterprise raised a hand to knock, and the doors chose that moment to open of their own accord. Her hand frozen in midair, Enterprise and Prince of Wales took each other in with mutual surprise. Wales recovered first, the grace typical of the Royal Navy evident as her face morphed into a welcoming smile.

“Ah, Enterprise! Lovely timing, I was just finishing up in here.” She stood aside, holding the door open for the both of them. “Belfast and her fellow maids worked all week to ensure it was ready, I was just putting a few finishing touches on it myself.”

Though she hadn’t expected it, Wales’ words made sense to Enterprise. Before the influx of Eagle Union and Royal Navy ships to combat the Sakura Empire, the Joint Base had been a relatively small base shared between the two nations. Wales had commanded the Royal Navy’s contingent, while Cleveland had been in charge of the handful of Eagle Union vessels present. While there hadn’t been a strict command agreement between the two, given the much larger Royal Navy presence, the Royal’s greater investment in the base’s infrastructure, and Wales’ own seniority over Cleveland, she had been the de facto commander.

“If you’d like, I can find somewhere else for my office,” Enterprise offered, feeling uneasy about putting Wales out of her own office. It felt rude, if nothing else, but Wales only gave her a disarming smile and shook her head.

“Oh, perish the thought! I no longer have any need of an office with Her Majesty taking up station here to command the Royal girls, and in any case I could not have Belfast and her maids’ hard work be wasted. Please, allow me to show you your new facilities.” Casting a brief glance aside to Belfast, who only nodded her encouragement, Enterprise stepped inside.

The office was small, but that failed to bother Enterprise. She had never been one for extravagance, preferring the simple and practical to the overwrought and pretentious. There was a single desk inside, a typewriter and a simple desk lamp its only adornments. One wall was taken up entirely with a row of file cabinets, though what could possibly fill so many eluded Enterprise’s guesses. The opposite wall was almost entirely a large multi-paned window, currently opened to allow in the constant ocean breeze. Tacked to the wall behind the desk was a corkboard, currently empty, and beside it a door that presumably led to a coat closet.

Nodding with approval, Enterprise smiled. “This will do nicely,” she said, turning about to take in the small, comfortable space.

Wales and Belfast each shared confused looks, and Wales shook her head. “Enterprise, this isn’t your office.”

“Eh?” Blinking, Enterprise looked back to the still open doors and the plaque riveted into the wood. She pointed, replying, “The plaque says ‘Commander’s Office,’ doesn’t it?”

Belfast neatly slipped past Enterprise, though how she managed in such a confined space was a mystery. “This is your receptionist’s office, Enterprise,” Belfast said, her hand on the handle of the door Enterprise had assumed to be a coat closet. There was something about the crook of her lips that had Enterprise immediately suspicious. Belfast had what Hornet would call an ironclad poker face, but Enterprise was getting better at reading the little tells.

If it wasn’t a trick of the light, she would swear there was a sparkle of mischief in the Head Maid’s eyes.

On second glance, Enterprise realized she had overlooked the door’s finer points; the handle was polished silver, for one. For another, Enterprise realized with a start that what she had initially dismissed as wood staining was in fact elaborate engraving that covered nearly the entire door, frame included. Depicted were ships of all sizes, from tiny destroyers launching torpedo spreads to full renderings of battleships firing their main batteries in full broadside. She even spotted more than one carrier--including at least one Yorktown class like her and her sisters—launching warplanes.

The sinking feeling in Enterprise’s gut was proved true when Belfast turned the handle and pushed the door open, stepping aside to allow her through. “This is your office.”

Once more Enterprise stepped through, and this time. The breath caught in her throat.

The room was huge, and Enterprise’s first thought was of the massive fortified submarine pens she’d once seen during a port call in the Atlantic. While the comparison was an exaggerated one, Enterprise estimated that she could have fit two, perhaps even three of her Wildcats in the room wingtip-to-wingtip.

Off to one side, there was a dedicated sitting area with a half dozen overstuffed chairs clustered in a half circle around a fireplace. Why anyone had thought a fireplace to be necessary or desirable in a place as warm and humid as the south-central Pacific, Enterprise could not understand. Further along the same wall, bookcases stretched floor-to-ceiling all the way to the far corner, and Enterprise could not spot a single empty space on their shelves.

There was a desk centered on the far side of the room from her, and the gargantuan thing stretched half the width of the entire room. It gleamed of polished mahogany, and if the gargantuan thing weighed less than an honest half-ton, Enterprise would eat her hat. The entirety of the wall behind the desk was taken up by a massive windows, the iron latticework broken only by a glass double-door that led out to a marble-white balcony beyond. Even from across the room, Enterprise could see that the balcony overlooked the base’s port and dock facilities.

The wall opposite the fireplace seemed to be yet another sitting area, though this one composed of a trio of long couches surrounding a gleaming glass coffee table, complete with a sterling silver tea set and accompanying place settings for a dozen guests. Hanging from the wall were the flags of Azur Lane’s member nations, equally spaced and equally sized so that none seemed to carry precedence of the others.

Spreading across the vast expanse of the room’s floor was a single, immense carpet nearly the same shade of red as Wales’ own half-cloak. Gold embroidery lined the edge in a pattern of flowing vines, and at the center was an immense rendering of a laurel-wreathed anchor, also in gold.

“Apologies for the rough accommodations,” Wales said, appearing from behind her and striding across the carpet, hands clasped together. “We did the best we could with the resources available, but I’m afraid some measure of austerity must be suffered given our isolated location.”

“A-austerity?” Enterprise asked, the first word she’d managed since stepping inside. “Is this an office or a hangar deck? It’s enormous!” She hadn’t even known the Headquarters building had a room large as this one. She could have hosted every shipgirl currently posted to the base at once. Five times over. With their rigging.

“Not to say I told you so, Miss,” Belfast murmured quietly, a small grin on her lips as she slipped past Wales and trekked to the far side of the room. For her part, Wales seemed undisturbed at Enterprise’s reaction.

“Well, it’s all yours now, Enterprise!” Standing straight, Wales rendered a crisp salute in the Royal style. “Good luck, I’m sure you’ll do marvelously.”

She hardly waited for Enterprise to return the salute before sauntering past and out of the room, pausing only to lean in for a conspiratorial whisper, “Oh, and I left something in the bottom left drawer of the desk for you. Trust me, you’ll need it.”

Before Enterprise could question what she meant by that, Wales had fled the room and nearly slammed the door shut behind herself faster than Enterprise had ever seen her move.

That left just her and Belfast in the cavernous space. The maid had taken up position behind the desk, the chair pulled out and ready for Enterprise to take her place. It took a disturbingly long time to cross the room, and though the thick carpet did an excellent job of muffling the click of Enterprise’s boots, she still swore she could hear an echo.

“Are you ready?” Belfast asked her as Enterprise rounded the desk, hesitating to stare at the plush, velvet-cushioned seat. It was such a far cry from the wheeled office chairs she was used to in the Eagle Union, and she was desperately trying to not think of it as a throne despite its extravagance.

It’s just a chair.

It was ridiculous, feeling such anxiety over a piece of furniture. She’d led other shipgirls into battle before, fought against the Sirens outnumbered and outgunned more times than she could recall, and she’d never blinked before. She wouldn't let a chair intimidate her, no matter how fancy it was. Setting her chin, Enterprise’s eyes hardened and she nodded. Sliding over, she allowed Belfast to push the chair in beneath her as she settled in.

Reaching forward, Enterprise adjusted the bronzed nameplate at the center of her desk. It read simply, Commander Enterprise.

“Right,” she said, releasing a deep breath and straightening her cap, “Let’s get started.”