The Hospital Ship of Azur Lane (Slow Updates)

Inspection

After exiting the building, Doctor Solace and Vestal walk towards the Jeep ambulance and drive towards the main facilites. Sure it might look like a small island, but Vestal has insisted on taking the Jeep. Well, she is exhausted with all the bombardments and inspections, so it's reasonable that she no longer has any energy to walk. It's been a very stressful day for her and Akashi hasn't been of much help either. If she hadn't been slacking off, maybe the job would have been finished by now. But yet, Akashi instead decides to lie around in her shop and not do anything other than sit on a chair behind a cahsier's desk and collect the money from her customers. Not that it would be a big deal, but she could get up and actually do some work. It would have also helped her physical health by moving around even just a little bit. Maybe DS needs to do a medical checkup on her as well. It might be too minimal to be considered a serious health issue, but even so, it's his responsibility. For now, he'll just proceed with the inspection he asked for.

-'Well, that was something', says DS as he opens the left door of the Jeep. 'For a moment there, I thought it would escalate to a standoff'.

-'Her Majesty is always suspicious of new faces, especially males', replies Vestal as she opens the right side door. 'After all, she's the commander of Azur Lane, so she's concerned about the safety of everyone'.

-'I don't doubt that, but going as far as to suspect a hospital ship is a little bit extreme', says DS, in his calm voice tone as usual. 'I am just trying to do my job, but without the head of defence's approval, how am I supposed to work? I need the green light to operate and when they do not give it to me, then I become nothing more than an observer'

-'I understand, but there are rules that exist to protect ourselves from enemy attacks as well as spies that could cause potential damage to our ear effort', replies Vestal, trying to explain.

-'I don't doubt that either', says DS, now in a little more serious voice tone. 'But how am I supposed to treat patients when I'm under surveillance all the time for the suspicion that I may be a spy? I understand the no exception rule, but this goes too far', he exclaims. The more he thinks about it, the more it reminds him of what happened back then. It was at the Austronesian Republic during the first days of the conflict. It was around the 25th of August when he was stationed at teh country's main harbor, dropping the necessary supplies for the civilians and local medical personnel, when all of a sudden, an army convoy rushed into the port and the troops looted the hospitals. While they didn't kill or kidnap any of the Red Cross personnel, it caused a serious strain in the Red Cross-Austronesian relations. And it does not end there. A few days later, around the 29th of August, the rebels launched a drone strike on the harbor, damaging and sinking several civilian ships, including Doctor Solace himself. And while the damage was minor and he managed to repel the enemy drones with his AA weapons, this caused a strain on the relations with the opposite side as well. The result was for the Red Cross to withdraw from Austronesia and set up their field hospital at the neighboring nations at the border where they knew that neither side could touch them. So disillusioned were the two sides that they didn't care who they targeted. As long as they could protect their cause, they don't care who dies and who lives. That's one of the many reasons DS came to develop a mistrust to governments and their military forces. Well, hopefully Queen Elizabeth won't make any similar mistakes if she wishes to get along with DS.

They get in the Jeep and drive towards the island's center with the ambulances and the fire tenders following. Sure it's a small island, but with cars being the most common transport from one side of the island to the other, it's much better than walking all the way. By foot, it takes nearly two hours to walk from one side to the other. By car however, that time is reduced. No wonder Illustrious prefers to take her car to go to the market or the cafe. Not that it would bother her to walk, but the cafe is all the way to the center of the island. You can't just climb the mountain without getting exhausted, a car is a better solution. And that's exactly where DS and Vestal are going now.