Laffey, Atlanta and Portland finished up sinking the last of the siren ships. They reported to Prince of Wales that the human ship was rescued. Wales let out a sigh of relief when she heard the news. She has already dispatched reinforcements consisting of 30 Kansens, as well as having Princeton and Unicorn send out their planes to reach the ship first.
Atlanta was overwhelmed when she heard the number of reinforcements being sent. Wasn't it just one ship? She would always help those who were in danger, but isn't this too much? Herself, Laffey and Portland were more than enough to escort the ship Azur Lane. But Wales insisted that such reinforcements were necessary. Atlanta thought back to when Wales first radioed her of the distress signal. What was the ship carrying that was so important?
The three boarded the ship where they were greeted by the captain, who began to report what happened. Their faces stiffened when they heard that the new commander for Azur Lane was onboard. The captain then started telling of how a humanoid siren boarded the ship and that the commander created a plan to deal with it, by luring the siren onto the ships deck where the main guns were.
The Kansen didn't know whether the new commander was brave or stupid, but they saved the ship. The commander's actions had already made them better than previous commanders who would sit in the port all day. And it didn't help how some commanders were biased, such as a commander from the Iron Blood giving Iron Blood Kansen top priority and showering them with resources, which caused division in Azur Lane.
Atlanta decided to meet up with the new commander and greet them. As reluctant as she was to do so. They were escorted to the medbay by one of the crew. Once there, the crewman saluted and walked away. With a deep breath, Atlanta gently opened the door.
…
…
After Olivia's stunt, she was brought to the medbay where she received care. She had awoken and was quickly informed of the current situation. Reinforcements arrived and dealt with the siren ships while the humanoid siren was destroyed. Olivia let out a sigh of relief and layed back in the bed. Her ears were still ringing slightly but she was told that Azur Lane had some of the best medical technology in the world so she wouldn't need to worry about permanent damage to her ears.
Now, all she had to do was rest until they reached port.
"Commander, you have visitors" The nurse overseeing Olivia's care spoke up.
"The captain?" Olivia asked.
"No, three Kansen from Azur Lane who helped us are here to see you"
Olivia shot up from her bed, and quickly started to fix her appearance.
'Shit, they're already here!' Being aware of how hostile Kansen were to past commanders, Olivia wanted to make a good first impression so she doesn't have to sleep with one eye open at night since she will be the only human at the Azur Lane HQ.
She shot up from her bed so fast she briefly saw stars, then fumbled to straighten her dirtied and damaged uniform, pat down her hair, wipe her face, anything to look remotely presentable. Her body was still in pain but she brushed it off, she could handle a little pain.
'Okay, okay, I can do this. Smile. Speak with confidence. Act like a leader. A cool leader! Wait, that might be too much for a first meeting…'
She began rehearsing lines in her head, cringing at some lines that sounded fake or plain stupid.
She then turned to the mirror on the wall to do one last check of her appearance. Then came the click of the medbay door opening.
"Commander?" The voice was clearly female and obviously didn't belong to any of the crew on the ship. No human abroad had such a nice voice, well except Olivia.
'Wait! No No No Not Yet!'
She turned around too fast, her foot caught the edge of the bed, and–
~THUMP~
Olivia face-planted with all the grace of a penguin. On the way down, she tried to stop her fall by grabbing onto a side table, only for that to fall with her, causing papers to fly and a tray with medical items to clatter on the floor. The silence that followed was deafening.
She screamed in her mind. 'It's over! I'm dead! I've failed before I even started!'
But something was… off.
She didn't hear anyone laughing. Or sighing. Or saying anything at all.
Just... silence.
Painfully awkward, soul-crushing silence.
At this point, Olivia was too afraid to look up and see the disappointment in their eyes.
Because her face was buried in the floor and her pride was shattered into a million pieces, she didn't see the three Kansen frozen in the doorway, wide-eyed and unmoving.
Atlanta stood stiffly, mouth slightly parted as her eyes were locked onto Olivia like she was seeing a ghost from a forgotten dream.
Laffey tilted her head, ears twitching slightly, but she was now very much awake.
Even Portland, who walked around absent-mindly, thinking only about Indianapolis, was now wide awake from her daydreaming, staring at the woman on the ground as a strange warmth filled her chest. A soft pang of familiarity and longing.
None of them moved.
None of them spoke.
Because none of them understood why their hearts were racing, why their breath caught, or why, upon seeing her, they suddenly felt like they'd found something they didn't know they'd lost.
…
Now they sat in a lounge room of the ship, Olivia still had a distinct red mark on her face as she tried to act calm and cool. There was a continued silence between them, none of them had spoken a word, and Olivia was beginning to panic inwardly.
Olivia gathered her courage, and was the first to speak. "M-My name is Olivia Schraic, I have been assigned as Azur Lane's new commander. It's a pleasure to meet you"
Laffey blinked slowly, head resting on the armrest of her seat as her legs hung over the side. "Commander… Olivia… huh…" she mumbled softly, almost dreamily.
Portland tilted her head, eyes narrowing slightly as she studied Olivia. "Why do you feel familiar," she muttered.
Atlanta, however, was the first to properly engage, her voice cautious and deliberate. "So… you're the new commander. You were the one who made that crazy plan to eliminate the siren?"
"Umm, yes that was me…" Olivia didn't know why, but she suddenly had a bad feeling.
"Do you realize how reckless that was?!" Atlanta raised her voice, surprising Laffey and Portland. "What you did was down right suicidal!"
"Umm, I-I'm sorry?"
"You need to value yourself more!"
Before Atlanta could scold Olivia anymore, a crewman entered the room. "More reinforcements from Azur Lane have arrived commander"
'There's more?!' Olivia wanted to scream out. "How many did they send?" She asked.
"A fleet of about thirty kansen"
Olivia's face paled. 'I haven't mentally prepared myself yet!'