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“Congratulations, Rear Admiral Shouko Nishimura. May your justice be swift,” said the head of the Admiralty Board, his face muted with emotion.
I guess it’s real, huh? Shouko thought to herself with the most subtle of smiles. Yes, that alone made her stand out among the numerous faces surrounding her.
Admittedly, most of them weren’t actually here. Setting aside Fleet Admiral Tennyson was a very formal man, so he thankfully came here in person, but most others within the WGN (World Government Navy) were present as holograms. Not many people came out to HQ, being far too busy. The Fleet Admiral was here in person, as was one of the 9 Admirals, four of the 37 Vice Admirals, and six of the 62 Rear Admirals—not including Shouko.
It should be noted that this was not a ceremony. The Admiralty Board sometimes holds off on ceremonies for new Admirals, a policy adopted after the last Blackout. The ceremony will come later, namely when the current Swell ends. When will that be? Hard to say, because the last Swell lasted years. Actually, this most recent Swell was probably the reason Shouko received her promotion.
After all, she’s only 38, an extremely young woman in this day and age, looking no different now than she did in her early 20s. Actually, that’s misleading. She has a neural interlace like most in her generation, so she’s never going to look a day over 22 for the rest of her days. It’s commonplace technology, but at the same time she’s probably among the only ones here who received one as an infant. As for everyone else? They look fairly young, but there’s distinct tells that show someone adopted an interlace. You can’t hide that “seasoned” look.
As for Tennyson? Well, he apparently likes looking like an old man. On that occasion, Shouko found herself a little charmed since, well, she’s never seen an “old man” once in her entire life. A true rarity, just like people.
“Now then, our first matter of business,” Fleet Admiral Tennyson said, not even waiting for Shouko to take her seat. This was a meeting of the Admiralty Board, so typically one would have everyone seated before addressing naval matters. If he started now, when Shouko was still standing, then... “In accordance with the World Government Proposition 62:414, we’ll begin discussing your position. You are hereby installed as the head of the WGN’s 1st Expeditionary Fleet, effective immediately.”
The room was, as one might expect, silent. Nobody speaks out of turn. No one voices opinions. Everything is absolutely mechanical and well-oiled. This is true for the newly-promoted rear admiral, the first person under 40 to receive the position since the formation of the WGN and even the World Government, for that matter. There was no pause or delay, not even to express the shock at being assigned such a foreign concept like an “expeditionary fleet” with no prior briefings.
“Aye-aye, sir,” Shouko said, quietly waiting for the Fleet Admiral to hand out his orders.
※※※※※
The halls were empty. Nothing strange there, but it was perfect for Shouko to process the past few hours. With each step, she recalled the finer details of her orders. There’s a few interesting tidbits, but the first and foremost was the nature of her new assignment. Even though no one was there to watch her, she kept her expression under control and dared not break character until she was out of the building and back at the airfield. Though she had arrived aboard a standard military crew transport, the aircraft before her now was one of the beautiful “flags” which transported admirals.
As Tennyson said, her orders were effective immediately, so instead of sleeping on base, she would instead be enjoying the cabin of this fine piece of modern technology. It’s enough to make Shouko want to cry. After all, if there’s one thing the WGN didn’t like, it’s making their Admirals live in squalor. What better way to show their appreciation than with a personal air transport that can handle hits from all but the latest military hardware. Oh, and it can just laser down any missiles of the modern stuff too. In practice, anyone aboard one of these was invincible. Well, that’s assuming they ever get pulled into combat. They won’t, naturally.
No different from the halls of WGN HQ, there was no one to be seen. Everything was automated as far as one could go within reason. “Within reason” here refers to, of course, the fairies buzzing around. Upon reaching the entrance of her new vessel, these tiny and adorable little “people” scrambled to attention and saluted Shouko as she passed them.
“At ease,” Shouko uttered, “and please stay that way.”
That’s not something an admiral should say, but Shouko was not the typical admiral. After all, she’s very, very fond of these little post-humans. If she were to take the number of actual humans she’s seen in her life, then there would be about as many fairies aboard this airship. Shouko was raised in an Enclave after all, floating in a Lagrange point so far removed from the world that one might wonder why someone would come back down just to fight the monsters that live in the oceans.
With a heavy sigh, Shouko finally stepped into the VTOL craft and carefully moved into the secure cabin where she’d be sitting comfortably for the next few hours. There was an expectant look in her eye. Though she was the only proper human on board, there was more here than just the fairies. Upon entering the cabin, the tall and intimidating admiral locked eyes with a girl. Though she was not a fairy, she was quite small. Standing at only 134cm, Inazuma was rather typical for post-humans. This meant that Shouko was a full two heads above her.
“Commander! Er, no, Rear Admiral, congratulations on your promotion!” Inazuma beamed, giving an abbreviated salute as the barest of formalities. The girl has certainly learned well over these past twelve years.
And then, the persona broke.
“Inazumaaaaa~!” Shouko dove in, breaking into a full sprint, causing the tiny girl’s face to turn blue.
“W-wait, d-don’t just—hawawawawa...” Inazuma sputtered adorably.
The peak of human fitness she was, there was no way Inazuma could escape. The little post-human spun around and took a couple steps, but a pair of arms swiftly wrapped around her midsection and lifted her off the floor. The newly-christened admiral then hugged her adjutant and proceeded to nuzzle her soft little cheek.
“C-commander, y-you’re an admiral now! Y-you can’t just—eeeeeep!”
Inazuma tried her best, but the extra-tight squeeze and quick spin in Shouko’s step got her to quiet down right up until Shouko sat down in one of the rather spacious seats. Naturally, she kept Inazuma in her lap, refusing to let go or stop her nuzzling. Most of the fairies here were new staff, so it’s a given they’d all start sweating a bit. Skinship is a bit of a foreign concept in the military.
“It was so goddamn stuffy in there! All those old bastards were judging me, you know? All angry that I’m ten years too young to be an admiral! They even slapped me with some weird assignment!” Shouko complained loudly, something Inazuma had seen many, many times before, but was still defenseless to these kinds of attacks.
“I u-understand, b-but you don’t need to take it out on—mmph!” Inazuma protested, cut off by her admiral’s lips.
Inazuma’s sense of professionalism was fighting so desperately to keep things under control, but it took only a moment of pressure from Shouko’s lips for her to settle down. Among all the traits she had, the fact that she was so easily pacified was most certainly her finest. That’s according to Shouko, at least. For that matter, not only did she not resist anymore, but the petite girl lagged behind for only a few seconds before she started pressing her lips back against Shouko.
The state-of-the-art cabin was completely silent of all background noise, so the sounds of their deep, frantic kisses dominated the entire space. When Shouko slipped her tongue in to lick away at Inazuma’s lips and gums, Inazuma returned the same favour and made those sounds all the more eye-catching. Fittingly, the fairies around the pair were getting a little bit nervous. For the “veterans” who’ve been serving under Captain Myashita, this was perfectly normal and they continued about their business unabated.
It was thanks to all those blushing little fairies that Shouko snapped back to reality, only just now remembering her company wasn’t exactly “safe” right now. Shouko pulled away from Inazuma’s face without warning. While she delighted in seeing Inazuma try to chase her lips, she had to show some willpower. Only some, because of course she needed to give Inazuma one last peck on the lips before looking at the airship’s staff. She cleared her throat, grabbed Inazuma’s left hand, then raised it up, showing off the matching pair of shiny white gold rings.
“It’s okay! We’re married,” Shouko beamed, but that did not quite appease the fairies.
As far as communication goes, fairies don’t “speak” to humans, but Shouko’s neural interlace told her all he needed to know about their thoughts. “I guess it’s fine?” “Isn’t this fraternization?” “I wanna kiss too!” “Inazuma w-was this lewd?!” “That’s hot.” Among others, naturally. That’s about what Shouko expected. Fairies don’t really care much about human interactions or formalities, so Shouko was confident none of them would be complaining that she was kissing her adjutant. Benefits of the modern military. Admittedly, it’s a bit sketchy that she was able to marry her own flagship, but, apparently, Fleet Admiral Tennyson signed off on it for some reason.
I love that old man, he gets it! Shouko swooned, nuzzling Inazuma some more, which allowed Inazuma to sober up slightly.
“A rear admiral... I still can’t believe it,” Inazuma murmured, adjusting herself until she was seated neatly atop Shouko’s lap.
“Don’t get too excited, they did this just to dump something the World Government forced on them,” Shouko said, ever the realist in the relationship.
“They’d do something like that?!” Inazuma asked, clearly worried.
In typical fashion, her kind rather blindly accepts anything and everything the WGN says. As they say, you can’t break operation security if you can’t even consider questioning orders from up high. That blind obedience isn’t always good though, so that’s yet another reason humans are still present in the navy when the ships within are their own officers. Yes, it’s still hard to believe, but that tiny girl sitting in Shouko’s lap was, in fact, a destroyer.
A warship in human form, called Kanmusu (艦娘) in Shouko’s home country if Jyūō (重桜), Jiànchuán (艦船) in Dōnghuáng (東煌), and “Fleet Girls” literally everywhere else because once the British name something, that becomes the world standard. Funny how that works. That’s fine though. The British Empire was one of the two main pieces that spearheaded the formation of the World Government, so maybe they earned the right this time. Shouko herself spoke all three of the primary languages of the World Government, so it’s no trouble.
Back to the more important matter. Inazuma is one of these Fleet Girls, being one of those supreme post-humans born of science and magic joined together into an effigy that’s easy to empathize with. For Shouko, post-humans are commonplace, but few ever look, well, fully human. The fairies are the obvious ones, but there’s also lots of little outliers. Those are all made with solely human tech and would never take to the frontlines. Compare that to Inazuma, who can somehow take a direct shot from a cannon and survive. It brings to mind unpleasant memories from the time Shouko was still a Lieutenant Commander but after a decade, she’s learned to accept that this adorable wife of hers can take some serious punishment in battle.
All the more reason why Shouko finds herself hugging Inazuma very, very tightly and refusing to let go. This is the spot where her adjutant belongs, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. The Fleet Girl blushes at this, but leans back and rests her head against Shouko’s chest. Yep, all’s right with the world. Pay no mind to the enemies of humanity.
“Comman—Admiral, what were the orders? No one explained anything to me and simply directed me here. Even the fairies don’t seem to know.”
“They’re all hush-hush, huh? Yeah, I’ll bet they kept this to us typicals. Where to start?” Shouko leaned back, glancing at the wall for a moment, which swiftly materialized a ‘window’ for viewing the base outside. “Inazuma, do you know what an Expeditionary Fleet is?”
“Expeditionary Fleet? Hmm... If I remember right, those were fleets used in the past for exploration. There’s records of one in 1971, primarily as part of the United Nations’ Antarctic Settlement Plan.”
“1971, huh? That’s the same year we landed a rover on Mars,” Shouko said, though by ‘we’ she meant Japan, not the World Government. For that matter, the US had one on Mars back in 1958 and the Soviets matched them half-a-decade later. “So basically, they’re a relic since the landmasses are thoroughly mapped.”
“Correct, but in our case, it might be due to our expertise in deep sea surveying...”
“Yeah, I thought that too when they explained it. There’s people like me being born in space, but we still haven’t properly mapped out the ocean floor.”
We really, really should have done that... Shouko chuckled to herself, resting her chin atop Inazuma’s head.
“Why now though? We’re in the middle of a Swell, so it’s extremely dangerous for that kind of offshore work,” Inazuma whined softly.
“It’s probably because it’s a Swell. If there’s any use in a survey of the ocean floor, now’s the time.”
“The Abyssals are active though! You can’t just—”
“Yeah, they’re active,” Shouko cut her off, “so if they do, in fact, come from nests, then it’ll be easy to find them.”
“So the 1st Expeditionary Fleet isn’t a science task force?”
“Of course not, it’s reconnaissance,” Shouko sighed and squeezed her flagship more tightly, “I’m not looking forward to the workload. Oh well, that’s the price for freedom.”
As a captain, Shouko was always on someone else’s orders. By accepting this promotion to rear admiral, she was now free. Free to move around as she wished and set up shop wherever the world took her. Now, being a rear admiral still typically meant you were subordinate to a vice admiral, a smaller formation within a squadron, but the Fleet Admiral was very clear. The 1st Expeditionary Fleet is a task force whose commanding officer held significant freedom. After all, the adversaries of humanity make long-range communication difficult, so it’s unlikely a vice admiral or higher will be able to easily relay orders. Needless to say, Shouko ws giddy at the prospect.
“You know, you made a big deal out of my promotion, but you’re officially a captain now, Inazuma,” Shouko sneered playfully.
“Th-that’s true. I guess it still hasn’t settled in,” Inazuma laughed nervously.
“For that matter, Iku’s a captain too,” Shouko said, which made the destroyer flinch.
“I r-really don’t want to address her as captain...”
“Then don’t,” Shouko pinched Inazuma’s cheek, “I’m not changing my names-only policy just because I’m an admiral now.”
“Y-yes, I understand!” Inazuma said, a small pout present up until Shouko let go. It was completely gone by the time Shouko kissed her again.
Nothing stopped them this time. As the vessel prepared for take-off, the fairies cleared the cabin. Those under Shouko’s personal detail quietly slipped out two. With no more witnesses, Inazuma finally grew bolder. First, she lifted off of Shouko’s lap, turning around to face her beloved admiral before diving back into her lips. Shouko wrapped her arms around the destroyer without question, not merely hugging, but rather shamelessly caressing the fleet girl’s perky rear. Inazuma whined softly into the kiss, but she was hardly innocent, as her hand started stroking at an all too familiar bulge in Shouko’s pants.
The aircraft did not shake or weave as it lifted off, nor when it started accelerating. Shouko snickered into the kiss, taking clear delight in what she might call the “V.I.P. experience” of admirals. Though she lacked telepathy, Inazuma’s eyes became half-lidded, fully aware of what kinds of things her “husband” might think in this situation. For her suspicions, she received a more assertive squeeze on her nates. With an adorable whine, Inazuma made haste in undoing Shouko’s trousers.
Neither refused to break the kiss, even though Shouko wanted to tease her lover and Inazuma wanted to scold and pout. The couple remained firmly locked in the tongue-heavy kiss even as Inazuma worked Shouko’s cock into the open air. With her small hand, Inazuma firmly gripped the large pole and started stroking. Shouko froze up in delight, completely changing her focus. Button by button, Shouko opened up Inazuma’s blouse and swiftly moved her hands up into the camisole underneath.
Of all things, what finally broke the deep, passionate kiss was a loud, fairly excited moan from the extra-compact fleet girl. Freed of her lips, Shouko was finally able to laugh more freely. As she did, her hands gave the girl’s small breasts an assertive grasp, rolling her middle fingers over each nipple.
“I think you’ve gotten a little bigger,” Shouko snickered.
“I didn’t...” Inazuma said, puffing out a cheek, but that pout evaporated when one of her sensitive nipples were tugged. The destroyer stopped stroking, but Shouko clearly thought it was worth the effort.
Try as she might to hold back her voice, Inazuma promptly gave up on restraint. Her voice rose in volume by a decibel or two once Shouko’s pinching and squeezing scaled up, but her hand remained on task, pumping away at the already frighteningly rigid shaft. Even though she had started out as an easily-flustered little cutie, Inazuma had long since picked up a bold streak. After all, the Inazuma Shouko met twelve years ago could never have gone this far without lots of coaxing.
“Comm— Adm—” Inazuma whined, “Sh-Shouko I want it...”
“Want what now?” Shouko had been hoping for this moment, so a toothy grin had crossed her face.
Inazuma, panting rather heatedly, gave Shouko the most amazing look of desperation, “Y-your cock.. I want your co—ahawawa!”
There was no need to tease any longer. Shouko had been a very, very good girl today and had gone without any stimulation for a few days. Naturally, she could not resist such an admission and scooped Inazuma right up and all but slammed her on the cabin’s table. Another sharp whine escaped her flagship and wife, but there was no hint of resistance as Inazuma’s legs were raised high. In this new position, the lacy pink panties under Inazuma’s skirt were put on display. Even though the two had barely done anything, there was already a damp streak present at the crotch.
“That far along, Inazuma? I guess the past few days have been extremely rough on you especially. No worries, I know how you are, so I’ll remedy that immediately,” Shouko chuckled, the only shame visible being her pink-tinged cheeks as she moved her hands under the skirt and pulled the strings keeping the destroyer’s panties in place. With the knots undone, it took the mere flick of a finger for Inazuma’s bare pussy to become visible. That cute peach of hers was quite wet, enough that Shouko was absolutely sure her wife’s been needy the entire time. Perfectly normal for her, naturally.
No foreplay is nice every now and then, Shouko mused, then lined herself up with Inazuma’s nethers. The svelte girl flinched and wiggled her hips, back preemptively arching in anticipation. When Shouko’s cockhead pressed up against Inazuma’s labia, digging in against her vaginal entrance, Inazuma’s raised legs parted more and her face became painted with crimson. Shouko had done very well to last this long, but seeing Inazuma gaze up at her with hearts in her eyes was the final straw.
One second, Shouko was lined up; the next second, the whole of her cock was burying itself into Inazuma. A sharp, intense cry of delight filled the cabin. The insertion alone had chased out some amazing sounds, but it was the strike against her cervix that brought Inazuma’s voice to a crescendo. Her body quivered and her hips jerked about, but the onset of a sudden orgasm also caused her to tightly squeeze down on her dear admiral. With this as both a reward and a cue, Shouko pulled her hips back until the crown of her penis had all but slipped out, then slammed her way all the back in, giving the destroyer’s belly a little bump for just an instant. Like the first, this second thrust sent Inazuma over the edge, trembling and squirting as orgasm ravaged her body.
For some, this might be too much a reaction. With how loud and frantic Inazuma was, someone may foolishly think she’s being overwhelmed. Shouko knew better though. The pair had been in such a relationship for over a decade now, so of course Shouko knew Inazuma could take it. Not just those first two hard, deep thrusts, but the chain of them that followed. Small as the post-human fleet girl was, having Shouko’s ”confidently large” dick hammering into her was well within her preference. Sure, it wasn’t always like that, but as anyone could tell, it was certainly the case in the present. To use Shouko’s reasoning, “You girls can take way rougher hits than this, so I can go as wild as I want!”
Of course, for all her ridiculous durability, Inazuma and other fleet girls were not exactly designed to resist pleasure and such stimulation. So it was with some shame that the constant assault sent Inazuma up and over the moon. Each and every strike was not wasted, testament to Shouko knowing exactly where to angle her thrusts to scrape and slide against the destroyer’s weak points. Given she was in a perpetual state of unchanging anatomy, one could argue the little fleet girl was basically incapable of getting used to stimulation. What a
wonderful
terrible fate, being physically unable to develop a resistance to her
commander
admiral
husband’s techniques. That’s perfect for Shouko though, who had an untouched fondness for gazing down at Inazuma’s enraptured face.
The wonderfully quiet chamber made very well sure that each wet smack was perfectly clear. Shouko’s own very happy moans were mixed in, but Inazuma was far louder, only making Shouko that much more enthusiastic. For the sensitive little flagship, this meant falling into yet another orgasm. The helpless girl squeaked, squirted, and squeezed down on her lover’s cock; and, in doing so, she finally dragged Shouko somewhat down to her level. That merciless, tight caress of Inazuma’s insides were finally too much for Shouko, who pierced deep into the destroyer and unloaded her essence directly into Inazuma’s womb.
The heat of that thick cream pouring into her caused Inazuma to fall into a small chain of orgasms, her body finally able to acclimate to the stimulation. Then again, the fleet girl was still twitching and shaking even as Shouko slowed down to a much tamer pace. Carefully, Shouko leaned forward between Inazuma’s parted legs, leveled her face with the destroyer, and reignited their kiss from before. No different from before, Inazuma raised no resistance and wrapped her arms around Shouko’s neck.
For a time, the couple enjoyed the moment of quiet and simply partook in each other’s lips. Shouko was hardly the type to be sated so easily, so it was with some small sense of loss for the peaceful exchange that she pulled her hips slowly backward before slamming back into Inazuma, once again filling the cabin with the sounds of their endearing copulation.