Commander's Rounds

Gaiden entry 26.2 Deja Vu

(This was written long before Revenge ever made it into the actual game, so my version is rather different)

Ships went out, and ships came in.

However, the latest convoy came back with someone who hadn't been back to Azur Lane since before the commander had taken up his post.

Revenge was short, as far as capital ships went, but like many other Royal battleships, she had all the curves that Queen Elizabeth didn't. She had distinctly red, long hair and blue eyes, and wore a tight, dark blue reefer jacket with all the officer's trimmings of gold buttons and epaulettes. Like many of her fellow Royal battleships, she had an afterthought of a skirt that was blue with white trim, with the job of covering the rest of her legs given over to dark stockings and white dress shoes. She chose to accessorize with a blue hairband that had a little copy of a searchlight on the side. She carried a combative air about her- she was a fighting ship, and no one could gainsay her on that, at least without peril.

Given what he had been told about Revenge, the commander decided to leave someone both responsible and patient to be the greeter if she showed up while he was away on his mission. Pennsylvania was on hand to meet her as she came ashore, as Pennsylvania had been with Azur Lane from the start had had actually met Revenge back then. Revenge stowed her rigging before coming up the docks with her things.

Pennsylvania met the battleship as she came back up. "Welcome back. When the commander told me you were returning, I was surprised."

Revenge looked at Pennsylvania. "Well, this is where the fight is, and I'm not going to stand aside or be set aside, either. Besides, this commander person wins fights, so he's got something going for him at least." She looked around. "So... Where is he?"

Pennsylvania shook her head. "The commander did plan to meet you himself, but a combat situation that required his attention came up and he had to scramble a fleet to meet it. He went out yesterday."

Revenge sighed. "...Seems like my luck. But I can't really complain if it's because of a battle or something like that."

The Union ship gave a nod. "So, will you be heading up to the Royal dorms, or...?"

Revenge stiffened a bit. "I just came a long way over the sea, so I'm not ready to go to court, and especially not to talk to that queen. I'm just going to sit down and find something relaxing to do for a while."

Pennsylvania looked at Revenge's bag. "I could at least have those put into baggage storage until you've settled your accommodations."

"Sure, you can do that." She and Pennsylvania were of roughly the same vintage- she was someone the Royal ship knew to trust. "Just, could I have my fishing pole and things?"

"Sure thing."

Revenge got her stuff, and while she did, she had more to add. "It's good to see that this commander allowed you to stay on instead of putting you to pasture."

Pennsylvania simply smiled. "I think this is something you would like to know perhaps more than anyone else, but our commander isn't the sort of person who throws people away."

Revenge briefly paused, and then finished gathering her fishing equipment. "...Yeah, that's a good start." It was part of the Royal tradition of understatement- it was actually the most enormous relief.

Leaving her baggage in Pennslyvania's capable hands, she headed back down to one of the piers to sit down and cast her line. It seemed like a pleasant enough posting- the weather was fine enough, Pennsylvania and Arizona were still around, and that also meant all of the other old ships like Oklahoma, Nevada and all those were still about. She had left this place long ago, before that commander even arrived- she found the provisional administrator to have only half a clue, and if their commander was going to be that sort of person, she might as well go back home.