Airfield Commissioning
"He called them the Airfield Princesses" Akira started as we were heading towards Johnston Atoll aboard Takao's ship.
"Quite a cute name"
"Yeah" He chuckled. "But, well they're useful in securing our gains"
As Akira explained, in Matteo's world Azur Lane exists, but as a video game, and they also have another one where he got the concept of the airfield princess from, which made me think that we may be in the world of a video game.
He also mentioned that they have already commissioned these "princesses" in important places namely the island of Bermuda, and Sao Miguel in the Atlas Ocean, Gibraltar, the southern tip of the Sardegna Empire, Hainan, Okinawa, and Iwo Jima.
Our activity on Johnston atoll also involves showing me the ropes on commissioning the first one of these princesses in the Eagle Union. After that, I will add ones in Oahu, Midway, and Panama, and eventually Wake island and Guam.
These are the places Matteo recommended to give the maximum amount of coverage as we have limited numbers of these princesses.
I asked them why they weren't commissioned before I came here and they said just said it's for security purposes as the Sirens might take control of them and turn the princesses against us.
We arrive at the atoll's small naval facility where Takao docked her ship.
"You said Matteo's going to be here, right?" I asked as we disembarked.
"I'm here" Matteo came out from one of the buildings in the facility and waved at us. He is followed by the two shipgirls he was with during the meeting, can't remember their names though. One is the blonde with a gun, and the green-haired one that seems to be the lead ship.
Following them is one of the girls in my fleet that is routinely sent here to man the island.
"Hey, commander, Bataan. You didn't tell us we have a guest" Downes said as she approached.
I didn't know either. "It was supposed to be tomorrow though, but these two decided it would be today"
"Hmmm. Anyway, it's great that you're visiting" She made a toothy smile. "The others are waiting to see you since Matteo arrived"
"It also means we'll have an audience when you create the princess for this atoll" Akira said.
I noticed that the two men were grinning, but paid it no heed. They're probably just excited and reverted to being boys.
We walked towards the airfield which looks well maintained despite being unused. I guess the girls takes care of this facility on the side while staying here.
"Alright. Sophia take this and stand on the runway" Matteo handed me a clear blue cube
I then walk towards the runway, conscious of the stares I'm receiving from everyone who came to spectate.
I'm getting nervous for some reason.
"Close your eyes, and feel the energy of the cube" Matteo instructed using the bracelet.
Huh? What the heck does that mean? I now had doubts. How the heck am I supposed to do that?
As I was thinking, the cube emitted light from the inside, but I'm not feeling any energy.
"Then stretch your hand forward and say 'I summon thee' and give it a name. Don't forget to say it out loud"
Now I know he's messing with me. And I realized that must be why these two were grinning earlier. "You're messing with me, aren't you?"
"..... Your audience is waiting"
I sighed. "I won't do it"
"Come on. It will be fun, for us at least" Matteo urged me to complete the embarrassing chant.
"You already completed the first part" Akira added. "Why not complete it?"
I could hear chuckles in between their sentences, which irked me quite a bit.
The cube then emitted a much more powerful light and this time I could feel the energy it's emitting.
"Eeek!" I yelled and threw the cube as the energy suddenly flowed inside me like it connected with my core. It was really fast that it gave me a fright.
"What happened?!" Akira and Matteo shouted and ran to my side.
"I don't know" I looked at my hand that was holding the cube. It's emitting some sort of mist, which is supposed to be voluntary on my part.
Did it take some of my magic energy?
We noticed the cube that's currently floating create what seems like rings around it. It then started spinning, slowly at first then it begun to spin rapidly and glowed with the brightness of the sun.
Everyone covered their eyes in reflex as the light enveloped the area.
Then as quickly as it almost blinded everyone, the light disappeared and what replaced it is a thick mist.
"What happened, Matteo?" Akira asked.
"I don't know. The cube wasn't supposed to act like that."
The mist slowly dissipated and revealed a woman standing where the cube was supposed to be. She has a long black hair and sharp blue eyes. She's wearing navy blue short shorts, and a black tank top under a maroon light jacket.
She has a saber hanging on her waist, and is wearing bag for what seemed like shotgun since I can see its stock peeking from her back.
What's peculiar about this woman is that she has a large airstrip on her right hand, and a brown bow on the other.
I waited for either Akira, or Matteo to speak, but saw that they were frozen in their places.
"Um, who are you?"
"Are you the commander of this small island?" She asked with a tone that tries to be friendly, but still intimidating.
"Well, this is part of the Eagle Union so yes. I am Sophia, and you are?" I knew some people like these so I feel that she's very friendly on the inside.
"I should be named Johnston, but you can call me whatever you like.
"Hmmm" I think for a moment "How about Sally?"
Johnston taught about it for a while. "I guess it's fine. Feels like a familiar name"
"How are you not intimated by her?" Akira asked, now finally able to talk.
"Is she?"
"Hey Akira, you're still in front of her you know" Matteo whispered, apparently also intimated by the aura Sally is emitting.
It seems the shipgirls are also affected as some of them probably tried to help me earlier, but stopped as Sally appeared.
"Do they find me scary perhaps?" Sally observed the reactions of everyone around us. She seemed a bit sad
"They still don't know you" I approached her and pat her shoulders. "But don't worry, I'll go with you when we talk to them"
"Thank you, commander" She smiled, her expression becoming softer.
I can hear the two men behind me sigh as if the tension they felt earlier got released. See she's not as scary as you think.
I then called out to the two so we can start with planning our moves here in the Pacific.