William Thompson's P.O.V
I let out an exhale of breath as I leaned back in my chair. The start of today has brought nothing but office work for me, reports, shipments, possible transfers, et cetera, et cetera. The only person I've seen today was Ontario when she brought me a coffee earlier.
The sling is due to be removed tomorrow so that is some good news. Other than that, today is off to a boring start.
While stretching my neck, I leaned back forward to continue working. This became a fortunate moment for someone to knock on my door quite loudly.
"Come in" I said as I dropped my pen and looked up. The door then burst open causing me to flinch at the sudden entrance of two ships one of which was covered in bandages. They both beamed a massive smile as they jogged over. One I recognized as the Royal ship Duncansby, head of the Experimental Division of the Auxiliary Corps.
"Sir, Sir Their done!!" She shouted and placed a pair of regular combat boots on top of my desk. I paused for a moment to resolve my confusion.
"What are these?" I then asked. The smiles on their faces were swapped with ones of confusion.
"These are the boots you requested, the ones that allow you to glide across the water just like us?" Duncansby then smiled once more. "They work just like skates only you have to deal with waves! They activate the moment you touch the sea!"
My mouth formed an O as I remembered, I had gotten so caught up I completely forgot.
"If your ready we can start training now!" The ship beside her said with glee.
"Er, perhaps tomorrow? I'm rather busy today, What about that weapon I asked for as well?"
"Ah" They both lost their smiles once again leaving me curious. "Sorry sir, we decided to end that project after several, unfortunate accidents" Duncansby said and both of them remained quiet.
I looked between the two of them for a few seconds before speaking. "Is one of those accidents the reason she is wrapped up?" I asked. The two of them didn't say a word, they only averted their gazes.
"Right well thank you, If I have a chance I can come by tomorrow and we can run some tests alright?" As I finished my sentence, the door opened and Ontario entered once more. she quickly stood off to the side as the two auxiliaries regained their smiles. "Of course!" Duncansby said.
"See you later sir!" The other ship then said as she grabbed the boots and the two of them rushed off. Ontario watched them as they ran out the door and slammed it shut along their way.
"What is it?" I asked her. She walked towards my desk holding a tablet. "St. Laurent and Crescent finally got into another fight. It wasn't on the training grounds though" She said and handed the tablet to me. On it, a report about the incident was open. "The docks huh?" I sighed.
"They took out two cranes and destroyed several shipping crates that were loaded with supplies" Ontario said. I groaned and laid my head on the desk, there goes their first strike.
"Separate them" I handed the tablet back to her "Lockdown their ships and keep them in their rooms, Have ships watch over them. They will take shifts cleaning up the docks. The only other times they're allowed out of their rooms are breakfast and dinner, they will also be under a timeframe as they eat to make sure they don't see each other" I sat back up and ordered. Ontario quickly tapped away on the tablet. "Anything else?" I then leaned back.
"Yes, Miss Wales wants a meeting with us"
"About what?"
"She wants to discuss tactics as well as the current state of the war"
I could have guessed, so much has been getting dropped on me lately
"Alright" I stood up and sighed. "Best not to keep her waiting"
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"You girls are going to have a lot less free time that's for sure" I mentioned as we came back from Wales's office.
"Recommended increase in patrols as well as sea mines? Miss Wales isn't taking any more chances. What kind of strategy are you thinking?" Ontario said as we came towards my office.
"We'll talk about it inside" I grabbed hold of the doorknob and sighed. "Being cooped up in this room is pis-" Ontario and I paused as we walked into my room. To my surprise we found Enterprise standing in front of my desk. The three of us stared at each other for a few seconds before I finally came to.
"Oh yes! I forgot! Sorry Ontario we will have to discuss the patrols tomorrow, there is a matter Enterprise and I needed to talk about" I said. Ontario only stayed quiet and stared at Enterprise in a confused state, for some reason It also looked like there was some sort of hostile nature to her.
"Ontario?" I tried grabbing her attention. She looked at me in surprise. "If you could leave us?" I asked her. She seemed to snap back to herself and quickly bowed.
"R-Right, sorry sir!" She quickly said and rushed out of the room. But not before taking one last quick look at the two of us.
Another pause ensued after she closed the door behind her. I sighed and made my way towards Enterprise. "To be honest, I wasn't really expecting you to come" I broke the silence while walking around to the back of my desk. "So, what is it you want to talk about?" I then sat down.
"What is it you wish to accomplish by helping me?" She asked in a flat tone, It was a question that left me a little puzzled as I tried to think of what to say.
"Well I can't speak on Belfast's behalf, but I'm sure she thinks the same. What I wish to accomplish is to make you fit in with the rest of the ships. if you can sit down and start socializing with them I can guarantee your mental health would improve"
"My health isn't bad, I don't understand"
I sighed and leaned back in my chair. "I don't know really how to explain- Agh . . . Sure that's how you see it but I'll tell you right now it can be five times better" I held five fingers up before thinking of a way I might be able to explain it to her further. "You're. . . secluded to only yourself, you have several thoughts that race through your mind many of which have . . . emotions behind it. Remember I mentioned what a soul is yesterday on the beach?" I said, Enterprise nodded her head. "Perhaps I didn't fully clarify what it was. What proves you have a soul is your emotions, whether it's anger, sadness, love or like I mentioned yesterday, compassion. Most humans have it, including you"
Enterprise looked taken back and seemed like she wanted to say something, but nothing came out. So I continued. "Now back to you. You keep your emotions in and push yourself over the limit for reasons I'm still figuring out. What I do know is that whatever is going on in your head is giving you the strength to keep going, now that may sound like a good thing but in your case, it's not. It's pushing you past your limit and draining your energy faster to the point your mind could become clouded in the heat of a moment and you could do something that could harm yourself or us"
Enterprise took a step back and paused. She did nothing but look at the floor in silence for a brief moment. "Thank you . . . for your explanation" She then finally spoke. "I'll be going"
She then bowed her head and turned around before making her way towards the door. "Enterprise" I called her name forcing her to stop in front of the door and face me. "Just take simple steps to begin with, like making small talk to someone your closest to. Perhaps with Hornet?" I said. She nodded before walking out the door, only to stop once again halfway through.
"Thank you" She quietly said before closing the door behind her. I leaned on my desk and let out a heavy sigh.
"We're getting somewhere at least. Very slowly, but surely"
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