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Commander Anderson found himself yet again in a trip to some secluded government base, as part of his -implied- job slash responsibility to oversee all technology development regarding wisdom cubes.
While he was by no means even remotely close to be one of the leading authorities on wisdom cube knowledge (or even their use, since he was not the one directly making use of them), he was the de facto go-to regarding any sort of experiment taking place that involved the use of the nigh-magical devices. His job wasn’t that of looking at data results or analyzing procedures undertaking their usage. He was, in his own choice of words, more like a stick. Were the experiments too dangerous? inhumane? Too doomsday’sy? Welp, there comes the -stick-.
The silly mental image was his best attempt that he could do in the current situation to try and cheer himself up from the fact that he had had to play the role far more times than he would have liked to. He would have preferred the number to be a solid zero, but he was slowly drawing close to the double digits.
That was not the only reason why his thoughts had been wandering about. He and his retinue had been tasked to this inspection all too suddenly, just yesterday he had been reviewing fleet arrangements, one phone call from the Royal Isles’ head of intelligence later and he suddenly was on a trip to a remote island in order to check on some undisclosed project that had achieved “intriguing results”.
Apparently, a research facility on an island in the middle of nowhere was not good enough, the facility also had to be put a few hundred meters underground. Which was the reason why they currently found themselves on a sizable platform going underground.
“Hey! Commander! I think we are almost there! One of the lights on the platform has started to blink”
“uh? I see, ill check it up. Thanks, Kent” He said, finally coming back from his own thoughts. If only to check if the platform’s control panel had any sort of feedback besides a blinking light, at this point any sort of information was a welcome reprieve.
“Can’t really blame him, we have been in this elevator for far too long. Just how deep goes this thing go?”
After having checked the elevator’s panel, with no other indication besides getting close to some sort of pre-programed event for the elevator, Anderson turned towards the Valkyrie that had just spoken.
“Ah! Sorry. Sir. Being underground feels just unnatural and its making me anxious, er… Sir.” She replied with much more deference and less familiarity to her voice as she saluted him.
“At ease. Stormcat, right?” he said, bringing up her name from memory, thanks more than anything by her fuzzy personality and spiky blond hair that did make him think of a cat, rather than any sort of feat of memory. After all, the 3 Valkyries accompanying them had been barely introduced at the port once they reached. He knew that this sort of mission was always on the classified side of things, but he didn’t see any reason as to why being shush about even courteous greetings. He knew for a fact Kent had been disappointed at not being able to set some teatime for introductions, briefing and pastries.
“That’s correct, sir” She said, almost attempting to salute again.
“No need for all that seriousness. I am not even your commander officer, right now I’m more of a protectee for you. Besides, this island is far enough in international waters that military ranks and protocols don’t matter.”
“I-I am not sure that’s how that’s supposed to work” Stormcat said, briefly eyeing her Valkyrie companions for any sort of input.
“I know just enough to be able to tell you we will work just better if we pretend it is so.”
“Yes! We should all just team together and focus on defeating any evildoers!”
“Heh, I applaud the spirit, Reno. But I truly hope we don’t encounter any evildoers today that require any degree of defeating”
“I know what you mean, Commander! But just imagine what kind of incredible team of heroes we could make right here!” Reno said cheerfully as she gestured at her companions both kansen and valkit.
“Valkit, Buggy here!” one of their accompanying Valkyries said. Raising a hand as if trying to ask a question.
Anderson looked at her, her almost ruby red hair made a huge contrast with her clear blue eyes and her tanned skin as well, he was sure there was a relation between her name and her contrasting features, but that was a talk for another moment.
“Yes, Buggy, do you have a question?” asked the commander with some measure of concern regarding where the conversation was going forward.
“Can we really be at ease then, commander Anderson?”
“Mm? Yeah, sure, please just be yourselves. This will go much more smoothly that way.”
“Oh! that’s great, tanks! You heard that girls! Can just be ourselves!” She said beaming a grin at her companions.
“Please, Coby. Don’t be too much of yourself, though” She said, grinning at another one of her companions.
“Some of us can go a whole day without breaking a wall, you know” The last Valkyrie replied, a long haired brunnette with dark brown eyes and a calm attitude, as she got started on checking her rifle.
“Just… not you?” quipped back Buggy .
“Just not me, yes.” She said lazily as she cocked her rifle and stood back at ease.
They were a lively and odd bunch, which was something Anderson was completely experienced with. He had pondered before if wisdom cubes brought forth quirky personalities, or if humans were just more adept at hiding it, he had never found the answer to that one.
“Oh! I know! Do you girls want some of the pastries I brought? this is a dreary place to get some good tea, but maybe some good biscuits can help with breaking the ice!”
“I agree with you, the island surely had at least one good place to rest and partake with tea and snacks after our initial trip. I suppose this rush to get things complete faster is also a new experience on its own.” Azuma, the Sakuran battlecruiser said, pondering on that last bit as she drew closer to the girls that were gathering now around Kent.
“Personally I don’t think rushing will make you get faster to any place. If we are in such a situation where we are needed in order to save people from something, I would say we are already -late- to be of real help.” Calmly said Anderson back to Azuma.
And he meant it. If any of the researches with wisdom cubes had reached a catastrophic stage, it meant several warnings had gone unattended. The protocol for handling any new technology researched with wisdom cubes could basically brought down to “If it even makes a noise you haven’t heard before, call your supervisor and his supervisor”
“Oooh! Pastries from the maid corps?! These are rumored to be great! Evelyn just won’t shut up about them!” chirpily answered Buggy as she seemed ready to jump with excitement.
“By all means, grab as many as you want! I brought plenty for when tea time arrived!” Said Kent as she opened the lid of her basket with tea time-related goods. “This is a dreary place to just have a cup of tea, but these will surely brighten up your mood even on their own”
“Oh! these will surely do! These are not quite like Dunkerque’s confections, though that’s not a bad thing, some are for teatime and others are for enjoying on their own!” Suffren, the last member of their little group, confided. “But the real experience is having both over good tea.”