Commander's Rounds Volume 1

Entry 118: Delusions of Grandeur

The commander looked at the device on his desk, then the letter, and then back again. He didn't want to touch the thing that had been placed on his desk by the messenger- it roughly resembled half of a football cut lengthwise, the item colored almost entirely black except for a few lines of blue trim. He almost didn't want to know how it came his way, but he was forced to read the letter all the same. He took a deep breath before having a look.

"Good day to you, commander, whichever day this gets to you.

I am merely conveying this item to you, as I had nothing to do with its acquisition- that was done by our friends in the Northern Parliament, who discovered a Siren cult and relieved them of their valuables, freedom, and some other things besides. Seeing as your base is now a center for researching these sorts of things due to your extensive experience with enemy technology, I have convinced the Prime Minster to pass this on to you- Not difficult, as I believe this was already her inclination."

Also, a belated congratulations on the birth of your daughter. I had meant to write you earlier, but there are some days it seems I have been busier when officially retired than I was when I was officially active.

I should like to call you again, but that remains out of the question for the time being, so I will ring you when it becomes practicable.

Sincerely,

Vice Adm. Reginald Hunt, Royal Navy Intelligence"

The commander folded up the letter and put it back into the envelope. "Well, looks like this is our puzzle box to solve."

Albert had a look at it. "It's unusual for Siren technology to fall into cultist hands. The Sirens tend to treat their cults with a certain level of indifference and only really give attention to persons who are in possession of positions of some level of social or civic influence. I can only believe they were planning to use this as part of some experiment on highly eager participants."

"That was also my thinking." He said. "...Which means that this is some kind of Siren technology built to interface with humans, and I don't think we've encountered something like that before. Still, I can't imagine that they want to recruit cultists as soldiers."

Albert nodded. "It takes more than fanaticism and a willingness to inflict violence to be a useful soldier. A human being, even if they could be equipped with Siren weapons and equipment, would not likely be equal to even one of their humanoid weapons, unless there is much more to this than what we are seeing."

"I guess it might be a terror weapon." The commander raised his eyebrows briefly, and shook his head. "Well, that's something for Yuubari and the others to figure out."

"Yes sir."

The commander looked over at Albert. "...So, how are things on your end?"

Albert nodded. "I have already submitted my reports on the new changes to our logistics due to the indications that the Sirens may be adopting a less defensive posture over the last few weeks. While I understand if you have not had time to look them over yet, I would like you to be apprised of the changes I am proposing to the concerned departments, and they might be implemented more expediently if you approve of them."

"They were on time, and thank you for including an executive summary this time."

"It was at your request, sir."

"Indeed it was." While Albert was viciously thorough in detailing the substance of his proposals and the reasoning and statistics, a commander's job was a busy one, and sometimes Albert needed to be reminded to put things in bullet points. He was a superb officer, but people can overlook things that didn't seem important at the time. "And how are other things going?"