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It had been a few hours since the last time the Commanders team made any sort of report about their situation, Saratoga originally didn’t think too much about it, after all, from their last report they discovered the facility was deep underground, they even kept their communications open as the elevator was taking them to the facility, till the moment where they were obviously too deep underground for communications to continue.
“Even as a prank that’s too much time” Saratoga mussed to herself “T.B. I want to do a research on the zone the island is at.”
“The commander did an information research on the same zone, in order to establish the danger level that could be expected” TB, chimed in as her image appeared in one of the screens in front of Saratoga, her monotone voice clear from any sort of reproach as she was asked for the same document yet again, pointing at the adjacent screen which contained the information that the commander had compiled regarding the island they were going to visit, as well as the nearby maritime routes and battle reports against siren forces within the zone.
“I know… I have seen it already!” Saratoga fumed at that, it was true, she had checked the report before the commander even left a few days prior “But there could be something we might be overlooking…”
“mmm, what if we look for any possible trends in the reports?” Helena was checking the contents of the same report while Saratoga kept looking intently at the maps on the screen, almost as if by doing so she could find some Sirens hiding on the naval charts in front of her.
“Trends?” Saratoga looked away from screens she had in front of her, to look directly at her companion within the planning room, deep in the Azur Lane installations, the idea gave room for a different outlook that hadn’t occurred to her before.
“What kind of trends could there be?” She furrowed her nose as she thought about the possibilities, but in the end came up with nothing but the same question “TB, could you please look for any trend- er, -patterns- in the reports? Look for inconsistencies or oddities that repeat on reports, maybe the same phrases being repeated by the same crews going in and out of this zone, or something.”
“Understood, will commence analyzing reports involved with this zone” TB stated, and then disappeared from the screen, the previous information on back on it, the map indicating the location of the island the commander had gone to, as well as some of his personal notes on the matter, who could accompany him, and an odd mention about a “stick”.
“That was rather vague…” Helena looked away from the notes to look at her compatriot, a wry grin on her face, knowing they were pulling at straws here.
“ugh… well what else can we do? It’s actually a common enough route, sure, it’s a little ways off, but it still managed to pile up so many reports” Saratoga kept on looking at the maps on her screen, bringing layers on top in order to highlight some of the data, just going thru the filters, trying to find inspiration rather than looking for an specific piece of information.
“It is a somewhat common route…” Helena repeated the phrase as she came to a full stop. “That’s it! We should have some of the girls coming back from escorting cargo ships! We can have them reach the island much faster than if we even managed to assemble a support team right now”
“Oh! that’s a great idea!” Saratoga snapped her fingers at that, she hummed playfully as she seemed to have a bout of inspiration “TB! Can you contact me with the team that is coming back from escort duty, the one that’s closest to the island the commander went to”
“Understood, I'll look at everyone’s status that might be coming back close to the area and prepare a secure line of communications. Should I stop looking for patterns on the reports?” TB once again showed herself on the screen in front of Saratoga as she answered her commands.
“Naw, keep doing those, just lower their priority, do anything that’s needed and check on the reports whenever there’s nothing else that seems to be of absolute importance, nothing comes to happen we will just have something extra to show about the area.”
“H-hey, aren’t we jumping the gun at this? We have been uncommunicated for only a couple of hours, and we know they went underground, for all we know we would impose them to a detour of a couple days” Helena looked at the information that TB brought regarding the escorts, and certainly the timetables were much more convenient if the purpose was to lend aid to the commander as fast as possible. But there were too many unknowns, everything about the operation seemed to be in order, till the point where they lost communications. Then again, even the original orders for the operation seemed to have plenty of holes regarding the information of the facility, sure it contained all that was required to start up an inspection by the commander, but it had only the scant minimum, which gnawed at Helena’s nerves something fierce.
“Mmmm~ Maybe we are overreacting, but there are many things that make me uncomfortable about this facility, especially since we didn’t get any more information about the place or the people working in it.”
“And, if nothing happens, the escort group will just meet with the commander and everyone will be happy about it, don’t you think? It’s just another good prank with no real victims here, don't you think?” Saratoga gave her a big grin, and then merrily hummed to the tune of one of her latest released covers “Your little devil” as she took another look at the documents while she waited for TB to let her know when the communication with the other girls was properly secured.
***
The commander found himself finally back on the sea on his way to Azur Lane, with the Doctor, the other researcher who had accompanied them during the meeting and the little girl the doctor had apparently created with wisdom cubes, Song. They were all on Azuma’s ship, due to her bigger size as well as the doctor’s insistency to bring along some of his “hardware” in order to properly test it out back at Azur Lane, there was not much disagreement about such extras, as the commander was sure there was much to learn from still functional (and pilotable) Siren technology they could bisect and learn from.
Much to his surprise, they would have even more people accompanying them. The moment they stepped out of the elevator, back onto the island’s surface base, they made contact to report their situation and prepare the base to receive their guests. Only to find out that they would be meeting with a team of Kansen in the middle of the way back to Azur lane. Apparently they had gone silent for so long that Saratoga had arranged for a team to pick them up, in reality it was somewhat of a blessing, with the people they were bringing back, the commander’s first thought was that he should have brought a bigger escort fleet, he actually brought along with him the Valkyries that had been supposed to guard him only during his visit to the facility as well. By using as bait the mass-produced siren weaponry, offering data results on the tests, to their commanding officer, as well as the opportunity for them to participate in some of the trials that the weapons would be inevitably put under. For their part, the Valkyries seemed equally excited to tackle such a challenge as well as be able to dine with the ladies of Azur Lane… the food made by the ladies of Azur Lane.
The commander felt like there was something off about the enthusiasm the Valkyries had over having a -good meal-, he was fully aware that Kansen were passionate about good food, whether it was about making it or eating it, but the Valkyries they met seemed a bit too ardent about it, but that would have to be a concern for another occasion.
Now, albeit he was immensely grateful that another team would be coming to offer them extra support, he knew fully well not everything could be as simple as it seemed. If Saratoga had gone out of her way to send extra reinforcements, it also meant there was something else bothering her, which was a troubling idea given that she arranged the support even before he could communicate back and inform that he was in fact coming back with VIPs along.
Which probably meant that even though the support was coming for him in the name of Azur Lane, he would have to bill in the extra costs for the Kansen to remain motivated. More than some sort of additional monetary pay-offs, it was more like he would have to curry in some extra “brownie points” with the ladies coming to pick him up, which depending on who was coming to assist, would mean it could be literal brownies, a much more figurative and -liberal form- of brownie (also known as Vodka) or spending some quality time with them. Plus, if Saratoga ever found that the main reason they didn’t contact them sooner was because they got too distracted by talking with Doctor Bethencourt, and forgot to ask him to relay a message to Azur Lane Command, he was certain all the paperwork required to establish an impromptu -search and rescue- operation would find its merry mischievous way to his office.