Commander's Rounds Volume 1

Entry 49: Cleanup Crew

Z23 knew that the commander was mad, and Saratoga also knew it.

The thing that both of them knew was that if the commander was merely annoyed, he'd start talking immediately and outline what was done that made him perturbed, but sometimes something would happen that would make him greet the perpetrator with withering silence.

This was one of those times.

This was rare, but it had happened before- one with Albacore, another time with Akagi when it was discovered that she had once tried to strike a deal with the Sirens for the Sakura Empire's sake. And now it was Saratoga's turn in the hot seat, or perhaps it would be better described as the cold seat, as the commander's displeasure was a dark mood indeed.

Eventually, he spoke up. "Surprise me."

Saratoga blinked. "Excuse me, sir?"

The commander rolled his shoulders. "Surprise me. If you think you had a really good reason to do what you did, surprise me, and tell me why you thought I might just let you off the hook for what happened earlier today."

Saratoga remained silent.

The commander got himself out of his chair. "All right, then I want to know why you thought you were so indispensable that you could just go ahead and ignore a direct order by me, made as your commander, the commander of Azur Lane, at your own leisure. It was not a suggestion, and it wasn't your place to take it as one."

Saratoga spoke up. "But I apologized, commander-"

He cut her off. "That's just not good enough this time. The only thing that salvaged the situation was that Friedrich was nearby to do damage control, and that Z23 was able to assure those involved that I would do something." He put his hands behind his back. "You know that I don't have a choice now, Saratoga. You're a senior member of the Eagle Union carrier command, and your job is to be an example to every last one of your juniors, which means that I can't avoid punishing you for what happened."

Saratoga took things in silence.

The commander sighed. "Not long ago, I gathered you, Abercrombie, Thatcher, Albacore, and all the other pranksters to tell you in no uncertain terms, in my capacity as the commander of Azur Lane , that Anchorage was off-limits. I know that Lexington has given you at least one very long talk to you about your habits, and you've just kept on keeping on, so I thought that maybe, just maybe you'd get the message this time. But now, just like then, you decided you'd have things your own way."

Z23 was there because she was the one who reported the incident to the commander.

One of Saratoga's pranks was taking a few small things and then leading people on scavenger hunts- it was something she had done before, and sometimes even led a fair number of ships on a merry chase for a bit of fun. Saratoga had decided that it was Anchorage's turn to play that particular game, and Saratoga, who was never shy about tampering with other people's things, found a perfect opportunity. Anchorage was taking a nap after doing some reading, and so Saratoga took a few of her things- a set of simple lesson books for learning German given to her by Peter Strasser (Strasser and Ranger had taken the stance- which the commander agreed with- that while Anchorage was adorable, if they didn't educate her and increase her understanding of the world all they were really doing was keeping her as a pet). So, Saratoga hid them in different parts of the Eagle Union dorm, and was prepared to make a game of it.

And if it were done to a fair number of other Union ships, that's what would've happened.

However, to understate things in the way the Royals did, Saratoga didn't appreciate the nuances.