Commander's Rounds Volume 1

Entry 104: Victory Ship

The commander was used to visitors coming into his home at all hours, as there were all kinds of well-wishers and concerned persons when it came to his wife and soon-to-be child. This time, however, the one that showed up was a person that the fleet took responsibility for due to certain peculiarities about how she manifested.

"...And then the prince and the lady lived happily ever after. The end!" Said Anchorage, soon closing the book. She was sitting beside King George on the bed.

King George reached over and stroked the top of Anchorage's head. "...I'm sure that Matilda liked it."

Anchorage's eyes sparkled a little at the praise. "Ah...! Thank you...!"

Alex walked into the room. "Indeed, it came out very well."

The cruiser perked up. "Teacher! Um... I came over to read to the baby. I asked King George if it was too early, but she said it was fine, so..."

He held up his hand. "You don't need to explain yourself, but I do wonder why you decided to do it. Did someone ask you to, did you come up with it yourself, or...?"

"Oh!" She said. "I was asking Friedrich and Houshou about it, and Friedrich said that everyone might have to think of a way to help, even if it's a small thing, so..."

"I see." Alex looked over at Anchorage. The ship came into being as an astonishingly blank slate, but had learned so much so fast that she was having trouble articulating it all. So even if she still sounded like a child in some way, there was quite a bit going on inside of her head. She was just still sorting it all out for herself. "We're going to be pretty busy once Matilda is born, so you might not be able to come over all the time, but I think it's fine for you to help like this."

"Thank you, teacher!" She shouted, but then her phone buzzed. She scooped out the brightly colored device. "Oh...! Bremerton says that dinner will be ready soon, so I have to go home..."

King George V gave one last pat to Anchorage. "Well, you'd better run along, then. After all, the other girls work very hard to make you good things."

Anchorage hopped off of the bed and ran off, leaving enough room for Alex to sit beside his wife. "How have you been?"

"Fine-tuning the organization of the Royal Navy, dealing with some weaknesses that were exposed in our fight with Tester." She took a deep breath. "...She's strangely responsible, you know. Anchorage, I mean."

Alex lay back. "Anchorage wants to be a good girl, and because of that is more responsible than some adults I've known. But I guess you could say the same thing."

King George turned on her side, and scooted closer to him, just close enough for him to give gentle strokes to her middle, where Matilda made her home. "I thought you said you had a slow day today. Did something catch your attention?"

"I was just thinking about how you came to be. In your case, it was simple enough, as your ship's bell was preserved, like many others. But I was just remembering something from when I was younger, and then compared it to the timeline of the Kansen development project, where I found something strange." He took a deep breath. "Something that I'm having a hard time believing was a coincidence."

King George draped an arm over him. "And what oddity did you find yourself having a problem with reconciling? You have been a witness to many highly improbable things."

"Well, it's like this." He rolled over on his side to face her. "Most of the time, old war wrecks are hard to find- that's why it's a big deal. But when I was younger, we started finding them all over the place, dozens of the things. So I lined it up with the timeline of Dr. Anzeel's research, and found something. After Dr. Anzeel used a piece of Enterprise and a wisdom cube to bind humanity to ships, there was this giant wave of significant discoveries. Parts of scrapped ships were found in private collections or museum donation backlogs. Wrecks that were sought after for decades were suddenly discovered with ease. A couple were even found by freak accident by some ship that had been knocked off course or by some divers."