Master & Commander IC

[Kuroyuki]

Kenshirou Fujita

I didn’t see my week going this way… How had this all started again? Right, I guess it all started back when I played dad’s “game.” Sure he joking about letting me but decided, “why not it shouldn’t hurt,” in the end. I’ll admit that was some RTS game who would have thought that hacking was actually apart of the game. When I hit the end and won, I actually thought I did horribly with 3/2/2/2. Seeing the look on my face, my dad got up and started laughing about how even getting a score was feat.

I guess the real turning point was when I mentioned I did get a score. When I did mention it to my dad, he got all quiet and commanded me like one of his soldiers to hand over the game. Of course, I handed it over… Like hell I’m going to disobey my dad when he’s in JSDF Brass mode. After looking it over, he started muttering how I could probably command the hir-something? Later that day, during dinner, he said I was going to Moscow tomorrow.

So here I am today after one flight. Two more flights and finally a chilling couple hour helicopter flight to get what is obviously a top secret base doing who knows what. Once I got off the helicopter, two Russian guards pretty much dragged me through the base and forcing me to drop one of my family's katanas. I was briefly allowed to regain my balance just to see a group of twenty others enter in more or less the same way as I did. I noticed some other fellow Japanese but I couldn't get a good luck at them seeing as I was being ushered into another room. At least this one had my name on it...

Inside the room, I found an old-styled naval bridge with some modern gadgets like the Holomap. I'll admit being in a mock-up of a naval ship is calming especially since I'm so confused on everything. Dad couldn't you have explained a single thing right before you sent me to Moscow or at least give me a declassified summary of what I was supposed to do at least. I mean what am I supposed to...

"Thank you for showing up. I’m Moselle; I run the facility. Anyways, don’t stress, it’s only your first day here."

An AI unit? I thought those were...

“Oh, sorry, you probably should, since this is actually a rather important test; I can’t exactly fly you kids around for a day just to see how you perform under less-than-optimal conditions, so this is going to have to do. We’re testing flexibility with unfamiliar systems in stress situations, as well as how well you can compensate for a bit of physical degradation. So, yes, we’re keeping score starting now.”

Tests? Keeping score? What do you mean keeping score? What exactly did...

That's when I saw a hand rapidly wave in front of me, which was probably an attempt to get my attention I suppose. I turned away from the front of the bridge to find a girl there... wearing a yugake with a bow. A cosplayer in this seemingly top secret base?!?

"Fujita Kenshirou... Can Hiryuu call you Kenshirou?"

"Um... Sure? Miss?"

"Your flagship, the Hiryuu! So we'll be spending lots of time together! Hiryuu is sure we're compatible! It'll be great!"

"Hiryuu. You mean the old WWII carrier? I guess I don't mind getting to know you while doing some quick strategy games because to be frank I'm unfamiliar with Naval Combat Doctrine... as a commander at least"

For some reason, I think part of the conversation is lost in the middle... Or is it just me? But I'm sure she only wants to follow that one proverb of man and horse must be one. I guess the compability bit must mean those scores I got from the game. Her enthusiasm is invigorating, I'll admit that.

"Booo... it looks like Cynthia is calling."

Cynthia? Who is Cynthia?

"Hiryuu, can you answer it?"

"Unnn..."

She started to bit her yugake slightly obviously worried about something, but she answered it with great reluctance. Right next to Hiryuu, a Japanese woman in early 21st century clothes appeared.

After a brief introduction, I learned that she's the AI for Richard Cesaroni and also the Battleship, the Missouri... I will admit this entirely awkward and ironic of a teaming, but the purpose of this is to defeat the enemy team not worry about how Nippon surrendered on the boat next to me. I decided to deploy myself in the middle of the group because the Hiryuu wasn't meant to take hits but deal damage from a distance with her planes. After I ended the call with Cynthia and Cesaroni-san, Hiryuu attempted to hit me. I say attempted because she's a hologram. All of her attempts to hit me just faded away.

"We haven't even been together for a night and you're already looking at another ship! You enemy of all ships!"

"I just happen to be facing that way! Why are you so mad? Let's hurry up into Cesaroni-san's suggested deployment area!"

So that's how I entered into the UN21CLI.


Commands

Spoiler:

[Deployments]
IJN Hiryuu: L-15
IJN Tenryu (Light Cruiser): K-15
IJN Izuru (Light Cruiser): M-15
IJN Shimakaze (Destroyer): L-15

[Hacking]
Killing Blow: Pick an air unit. It rolls one extra die when attacking damaged ships. ("Kin"/Bomber)
Torpedo Ace: Pick an air unit. It gains an extra attack die to torpedo attacks. ("Aoi"/Torpedo)
Foggy Bottom: All gun attacks have their range reduced by 1 except for range 0. This effect also applies to card abilities. Aircraft take -1 dice to attacks.


[Discard]
Silent Running
Radio Noise
Ranger

[Negate]
Silent Hunter (HMS Unstoppable)

[Tangerang]

Sakusenshi Sora


"Forward! We keep moving forward!"

"O-okay!"

Movement

Nagato and 1 Torpedo cruiser move from H-3 to H-5. 2 destroyers move from G-3 to G-5. 1 destroyer moves from I-4 to I-6.

Card Usage

Radar Blanket-Nagato
Discard: Pursuit X2 to nullify Elan

[Dranes]

Sasaki Masamune

"Stress? Will see about that."

Smirking to himself, Sasaki glanced around the room itself, leaning over the railings at times to get a good look at it all. Modern technology, always impressive to see in action and this was no different, the room was a near-perfect imitation of looking out to a vast ocean...par the horizon at points. However, as nice as it was, his attention soon changed to a much more important item: the holotable in front of them. An exact replica of the sea around them, it was split into a number of different hexes, most of them shining a deep blue though the odd few were green.

There were also sharks swimming under the waters it seemed.

"...I really don't like sharks."

"There is no need to worry, they are not part of this simulation, ijou."

An emotionless voice broke him out of his musings, it had come from directly next to him apparently. He was sure he was the only one in the 'deck' of his ship but apparently not, looking to his side he was greeted by a woman. She was Japanese it seemed like him, though her choice of dress was far from it...was that a maid uniform, or at least some form of one? As dumbfounded as he was, the woman stayed silent as she stared at him with her emerald eyes. It was apparent that he wasn't going to get any answers unless he actually asked for them.

"Who...are you? How'd you even get here?"

"I am the AI Core of the Musashi, the flagship that is under your command, ijou."

"The Musashi? As in the Yamato-class ship from years back?"

"That is correct, ijou."

He could only nod to the explanation, it now made sense to him. As real as she looked, she was another hologram it seemed. A cute hologram but a hologram nonetheless.

"Huh, alright. Do you have a name?"

"I am simply an AI core, as such I have no need for a name, ijou."

"Well that won't do," shaking his head, he simply noted his disapproval of this situation already, "I'm sure you were referred by some sort of name before this?"

"If you find it necessary, you may refer to me as Musashi, ijou."

"Well, no points for creativity but a name's a name!"

"If you insist, ijou."

"Alright then, how ab-"

The sentence never was finished as his voice was cut off by the loud noise now booming from the loudspeakers around them. Though Musashi seemed to be not affected by it, the young man grimaced as the sound finally stopped, looking to his map something...different was there. At least that was one way to put it. A young blonde girl was now striding across the map somewhat reminiscent of a dictator in a way.

How old is this girl anyways...?

"Your ally for the upcoming battle, Herlind Kasner, ijou.""

"O-oh," He nodded once to Musashi before looking back to the hologram.

“We will attack, ja? The offensive spirit of the men must be utilized for victory. I don’t know what they taught you, but our spirit is our most precious resource in combat and he who thrusts for victory must have a soul that burns above all else!”

"Heh, I like the way you think," He grinned to himself as he looked at the battlefield, it seemed the young girl had already deployed a group, "You'll take the right entrance and I'll take the left. We'll charge for the middle while keeping close, no use to spread our forces when victory is right ahead."

Moving a hand over the map, it was time to get going.

Deployment

Musashi and 1 JP Destroyer deployed to Hex F-15
1 JP Submarine deployed to Hex G-15

Card Usage

Negate: Silent Hunter
Discard: Fearless Charge, Barrel Roll

Simulation Cards: Not chosen yet as in deployment phase. Waiting to see teammate's deployment/simulation.

[Zagrin]

Nishimura Takahiro & Kongo

Deployment

JP Submarine to Hex F-1

Card Usage

Simulation Card:
Shallow Draft: Choose three sea hexes. Ships with an AI Core and submarines cannot travel through these hexes, but can still trace line of sight.

Hexes targeted: F-12, G-13 and I-9

[SeiKeo]

Match A

Setsuko moves:
Große Kurfurst H3 to I5
Destroyer I3 to I5
Destroyer H3 to H5
Destroyer G3 to E4

(Information from IRC - Tang discards Pursuit x2 to cancel Elan on Yamato)

Air Movement

A6M (Ersatz) D7 to E4
D3A (Bomb Ace) D7 to G5
B5N (Killing Blow) D7 to G5

Air Defense

Destroyer E4 fires at A6M Zero: 2 5 6 4 1
Four successes. A6M Zero (Ersatz) armor rating: 5. No abort!

Destroyer G5 fires at D3A: 4 2 4 1 4 2
3 successes. D3A armor rating: 5. No abort!

Other destroyer G5 fires at D3A: 3 1 4 5 6 4
5 successes. D3A is forced to abort mission.

Air Attack

A6M Zero (Ersatz) bombs Destroyer E4: 3 1 3 3 4 1 4 6
4 successes beats destroyer armor of 1. Hull points are reduced to 1.

B5N Kate torpedoes Destroyer G5: 2 2 5
No sixes - complete miss.

No surface or torpedo units in range. Skip Surface and Torpedo Combat.

Turn Ends. No victory points awarded.

Turn 2.

KT New Cards

Ramming Speed!: if one of your ships occupies the same space as an enemy ship at the beginning of the movement phase, you may declare a ramming attack that uses the ship’s movement for the turn. If your ship has as many or more hull points than the enemy, they lose 2 hull points and you lose 1 - otherwise, both lose 1.
Fired: Reduce the hull damage inflicted on one of your units by 1, to a minimum of 1.
Scotty: Reduce the speed of an enemy unit by one for two turns.

Tang New Cards

Pursuit: If the turn ends with a friendly ship more than 3 hexes away from an enemy ship, move it two hexes towards the nearest enemy ship.
Sprinter: Choose a ship. It gains +1 speed for the turn.
Fighter Ace: Pick a fighter aircraft. It gains one extra attack die when making anti-air attacks.
Squall: All air units lose 2 speed.

Initiative:

Radio Noise is still in effect.
Gold Team: 2d6 + 2d6 = 11
Blue Team: 1+2d6 + 1+2d6 = 13

Gold Team, moves.

Map:

[Tangerang]

Sakusenshi Sora


"Incoming attacks from aircraft!"

"Ignore them! Forward! We're almost in range, I want to blow their ships out of the water."

Movement

Nagato and 1 Torpedo cruiser move from H-5 to H-7. 2 destroyers move from G-5 to G-7. 1 destroyer moves from I-6 to G-8.

Card Usage

Sprinter on Destroyer in I-6

[Katie]

Shikinami Hikari & Yamato

Commands

Offensive:
Scotty: Reduce the speed of an enemy unit by one for two turns. (Große Kurfurst)

Hand

Offensive:
Fast Hands: Rearm an air unit instantly, or remove the effect of Butterfingers if present.
Flash Flame: increase the damage to a damaged enemy unit by 1 so long as it would not destroy the unit.
Ramming Speed!: if one of your ships occupies the same space as an enemy ship at the beginning of the movement phase, you may declare a ramming attack that uses the ship’s movement for the turn. If your ship has as many or more hull points than the enemy, they lose 2 hull points and you lose 1 - otherwise, both lose 1.
Scotty: Reduce the speed of an enemy unit by one for two turns.

Defensive:
Barrel Roll: Choose an air unit. For the next turn, attacks rolled against it take a -1 penalty to rolls.
Fired: Reduce the hull damage inflicted on one of your units by 1, to a minimum of 1.

[SeiKeo]

Match F

Initiative
Radio Noise is active.
Gold Team: 2d6+1 + 2d6+2 = 16
Blue Team: 2d6 + 2d6+1 = 13

Sea Movement

PT Boats 01-02: F12
PT Boat 03: I12
Admiral Graff Spee & Destroyer 01: E13
Admiral Scheer & Destroyer 02: H13

Sub J15 to J14
Sub I15 to I14
Sub L15 to K15
BB Mutsu J15 to J13

Ai-Ling activates Scotty to target South Dakota - loses 1 move.

South Dakota: H1 to H2
Destroyers J1 to J3
Baltimore 1D to 3E
Chicago 1D to 3C
Destroyer 1D to 3E
Torpedo Cruiser 1H to 3G
Destroyer 1H to 3G
Submarine 1N to 2N
Boston 1L to 3L
Destroyer 1L to 3L

No other units can act in remaining phases or score victory points.

Turn 2

Initiative
Radio Noise is active.
Gold Team: 2d6+1 + 2d6+2 = 18
Blue Team: 2d6 + 2d6+1 = 15

Blue Team, moves

Soldat new cards

Pursuit: If the turn ends with a friendly ship more than 3 hexes away from an enemy ship, move it two hexes towards the nearest enemy ship.
Survivalist: Choose a ship. Bomb attacks cannot deal the last point of hull damage to it.
Sprinter: Choose a ship. It gains +1 speed for the turn.

AMW new cards

BUORD!: Reduce, for this round, all torpedo hits on friendlies to 1 hull damage.
Killing Blow: Pick an air unit. It rolls one extra die when attacking damaged ships.

[Satehi]

Kaiyuu Shikinami
Match B Gold Team

“Oh, sorry, you probably should, since this is actually a rather important test; I can’t exactly fly you kids around for a day just to see how you perform under less-than-optimal conditions, so this is going to have to do. We’re testing flexibility with unfamiliar systems in stress situations, as well as how well you can compensate for a bit of physical degradation. So, yes, we’re keeping score starting now.”

A test on the very first day- should be interesting.

I take a moment to take in my surroundings before focusing on the task at hand. As expected of the UN, the setup was quite nice, imitating the feeling of being in a real ship out in the open sea rather well. It was always a treat to see well made technology.

From the looks of it, it was going to be a battle between two pairs of carriers, with me and a teammate up on the north side of the map. Looking at my hand, I decide to play the simulation card right away, along with another card. Since a dogfight is inevitable with double carriers on both sides, I immediately play another card to boost my fighters.

Almost right after, the Shinano appears, looking composed and dignified. Clearing her throat to make her presence known, she speaks.

“I would like to offer a suggestion, Kaiyuu-san.”

“What is it, Shinano?” I ask, curious about what she has to ask. Might as well try to get on good terms with my AI.

“I propose that we aim straight towards the enemy, closing in on them as soon as possible. I would prefer to try and engage in close combat as soon as possible.” She says, clearly excited to engage.

Well, it doesn’t seem to be an unreasonable proposal. “I don’t mind. You are a bit more armored than most other carriers, so it should be to our advantage.” For some reason, the Shinano twitches at the mention of her capabilities, but I pay it no mind. Some pre-match tension, maybe.

“Thank you for obliging my request.”

Connecting to my partner to see his thoughts on the situation, I see he has his own issues with his AI. Looking through the information though, I see no problems, and greet my partner in return.

“I’m Kaiyuu Shikinami, and this is Shinano. I hope we can get along.” Introducing ourselves, the Shinano takes a small bow.

“Anyways, regarding our strategy for this little test, I think this idea would be particularly good.”

Deploying the rest of my fleet, me and the Shinano wait for our opponents moves.

Deployment

Shinano: 1-G
Destroyer : 1-I
Light Cruiser: 1-I
Submarine: Silent Hunter

Cards Played

Fighter Ace: Pick a fighter aircraft. It gains one extra attack die when making anti-air attacks. (A6M Zero)
Silent Hunter: When deploying your units, pick a submarine and deploy it anywhere on the map. It cannot attack on the first turn, and is invisible to the enemy until it attacks. (Submarine):

Position

12-G

Solar: Pick a cardinal direction. All gun attacks towards this direction lose 1 dice. (North)

[RacingeR]

Jaylin Roydon

She had to admit, this was pretty well thought. In the sense that if someone had tried thinking of a better way to annoy the new recruits and put them in an horrible situation to start thinking and playing strategy games, they couldn’t have done it better. Looking around towards the other twenty-three ‘commanders’ around her, she could note that most people were as young as she were, or at least around her age.

Yeah okay, today’s simulation was just going to be a bunch of cranky tired kids throwing shit at one each other, wasn’t it?

When Jaylin descended towards the ‘bridge’ of her ‘ship’, two similar voices rang in perfect unison, nearly startling her.

“”Welcome home, Commander!””

The two girls that had appeared to her sides were, except for the hair length, exactly the same, like a pair of identical twins. They were wearing a military uniform, except for the stage magician style coats, hats in combination, and the lower part of the uniform having transformed into some sort of skirt. The one with the shorter hair had covered her legs with white stockings, while the one with the longer hair was wearing black stockings.

Jaylin was vaguely aware that they could look whatever age they wanted to be, but they had decided to imitate her own age, and looked like normal 17-years-olds. Well, except for the gaudy purple hair, but not much that could be done about it.

“Lia, Nia” she called them both by her names, and they smiled. Jaylin, instead, sighed, and swore one day she would kill the fucker who had shown them those stage magician shows that had started this whole freaking trouble. Also, she had given up on saying their names in all-caps. The guys from before had a way of saying “LIA NIA” that sounded… well, exactly like that, but she was unable to get the necessary inflection.

Unlike most everyone else, Jaylin had become acquainted with the AIs of the Iowa ship before coming to the base. It was due to them being a special case, and apparently only her, the ‘girl genius’ was the only one actually capable of handling them. Which Jaylin thought it was completely bogus, but there was no real way to get out of this.

And just thinking of their first encounter was enough to make her blush furiously and wish she could get a sudden case of amnesia. Thankfully everyone present had decided to forget about it, but these two were capable of just telling everyone what had happened…

“Ohh, Commander is blushing!” Lia commented.

“And she is trembling a lot now…” Nia chimed in.

“She is going to jump at you, Nia! Run!”

“AHHH JUST SHUT UP DAMNIT!” Jaylin roared, causing the two of them to break into giggles, and get out of her way as she walked further in the room’s interior. The voice of Moselle proceeded to inform her of nothing she hadn’t managed to understand before, and the two AIs walked behind her like the less trustworthy bodyguards of all time.

Jaylin sighed, before she brought her attention towards the board in front of her, not sparing any time to look at the wonderful simulation surrounding her. She made a quick signal, and Nia prepared to establish communications with their ally… but he apparently decided to talk with them first.

“Yeah, you guessed right.” It seemed like they had very similar thoughts. She deployed her own ships with some quick button pressing, and then looked at the screen where his ally was shown. Wait, was his ally’s AI sitting on somebody…?

Well, at least she hadn’t gotten the only troublesome AIs. They would be partners in misfortune, it seems.

“Look, I got some ideas for our strategy, I think we should…” And she started explaining her idea to Angus. “Any objection to this?”

Commands

[Deployment]

USS Iowa: H-1
USS Zeus (Torpedo Cruiser): H-1
USS Poseidon (Destroyer): J-1

=======

[Hacks]

Defensive:
Radar Blanket: Choose a ship. It and all units in its sector or adjacent to it gain a die to anti-air attacks. (USS Iowa)
Scotty: Reduce the speed of an enemy unit by one for two turns. (USS Missouri)

Sim:
Squall: All air units lose 2 speed.

[Mormarth]

Angus MacIntyre
HMS Prince of Wales

"It would seem that your initial tactic has failed."

Hngh, shoulda known that they wouldn't of let me just walk around and play mind games all day.

I look up to the Holo-table's view screen and nod, "Sure, let's go ahead and do that for now, we'll adjust the plan when the time comes."

I adjust some of my markers on the field in light of the new developments.

Commands

HMS Unstoppable deployed to J-1 in lieu of Silent Hunter being removed.

Foggy Bottom and Bomb Ace discarded to remove Torpedo Ace from play.

[Mooncake]

Pàdric Callaghan and BB Iron Duke

Deployment

UK Gunnery Cruiser to Hex F-1
UK Gunnery Cruiser to Hex G-1
BB Iron Duke to Hex F-1

Cards Used

Solar (North): Pick a cardinal direction. All gun attacks towards this direction lose 1 dice.

[SeiKeo]

Match B

Simulation cards in effect:
Solar (North)
Sonar Blanket
Easy Currents

Deployments

CV Illustrious 1G
Torpedo Cruiser 1I
Cruiser 1G
Cruiser 1H
Destroyer 1I

Shinano 1G
Destroyer 1I
Cruiser 1I
Submarine


Enterprise 15K
Destroyer 15K
Destroyer 15H
Destroyer G15
Destroyer G15
Destroyer L15

Bearn 15K
Cruiser 15K
Submarine E15
Destroyer I15
Destroyer I15
Destroyer H15

Opposing cards played

Torpedo Ace - TBF Avenger
Bomb Ace - Barracuda (France uses UK planes)
Bomb Ace - SBD Dauntless
Fighter Ace - F4F Wildcat

Initiative

Gold Team: 2d6+3 + 2d6+2 = 23
Blue Team: 2d6+2 + 2d6+2 = 16

Blue Team moves first

Sea Moves

Submarine E15 to E14
Destroyers 15G to 13G
Destroyers 15F to 13F
Destroyer 15I to 13I
Destroyer 15I to 13J
Destroyer 15L to 13L
All units K15 to K13

Map:


Gold team, moves

[Dranes]

Dranes
Sasaki Masamune and Musashi
Match D

Card usage

Simulation cards:
Easy Currents: All ASW attacks gain 1 die.

[SeiKeo]

Match D
Simulation cards in effect:
Solar (North)

Kasner discards Torpedo Ace, Fighter Ace, and Killing Blow to remove Shallow Draft. Deploys:
BC Geoben I15
Destroyer I15
Cruiser D15
PT Boat D15
PT Boat B15
PT Boat B15
PT Boat D15
PT Boat C15

Map:

Initiative

Gold Team: 2d6+3 + 2d6+4 = 20
Blue Team: 2d6 + 2d6+3 = 16

Blue Team, moves

Match E

Note: Scotty played on USS Missouri (lose 1 speed for 2 turns)

Deployments

Sonar Blanket
Squall
Victory Disease
Foggy Bottom

Deployments:
BB Prince of Wales I1
Gun Cruiser I1
Destroyer J1
Sub J1

BB Iowa H1 Radar Blanket Elan
Torpedo Cruiser H1
Destroyer J1


BB Missouri K15 Elan Bee-Sting Scotty (cast on turn 1)
Destroyer K15
Cruiser M15

CV Hiryu L15 Killing Blow
Cruiser K15
Cruiser M15
Destroyer L15

Map:


Initiative

Gold Team: 2d6+2 + 2d6+3 = 19
Blue Team: 2d6+2 + 2d6+2 = 16

Blue Team, moves

[Kuroyuki]

Kenshirou Fujita

"Kenshirou, Hiryuu suggests we cancel out their Radar Blanket before we launch our planes."

"What about the Squall? Shouldn't we deal with that instead because some of our planes might crash due to it?"

"Don't worry about that Kenshirou. Since this is only a simulation, we don't have to worry about losing planes to the storm. The only downside is that all of our planes will move slower than normal."

"I see in that case I'll cancel the Radar Blanket if I can."

I look at my remaining hacks. Should I burn these last two hacks or... No I should keep these two. They might mean the difference between my units being destroyed or victory.

"Hiryuu, could you open a link to Cynthia-san a-"

"Cynthia, Cynthia, Cynthia. Why does Kenshirou prefer her over me... Is it because I don't have big cannons?"

"Bigger cannons? I think you're perfectly fine with your cannons."

If I turned around, I would've been able to see Hiryuu blushing but thankfully I didn't. After all, what man could resist a cute girl twiddling her fingers while blushing cutely? I probably would've forgotten she was an AI and attempted to hug her and fall face first in the bridge.

"Now as I was saying, please contact Cynthia-san and Cesaroni-san."

After I saw their avatars, I went ahead and started talking about the problems.

"Hello again, Cynthia-san and Cesaroni-san. Could I ask you for a favor? You see, our opponents have a Radar Blanket that makes their AA fire a little more dense. If you have some extra hacks, I would appreciate it if you could negate that. I'm sure Hiryuu and I can soften them up for you."

Commands

Spoiler:

[Movements]
B5N Kate "Aoi" - L15
D3A Vale "Kin" - L15
A6M Zero "Aka" - L15

[Dranes]

Dranes
Sasaki Masamune and Musashi
Match D
Movement Phase

Movement

Musashi and 1 JP Destroyer move 2 hexes forward to F-13
1 JP Submarine moves 1 hex forward to G-14.

[I3uster]

Josefine Schmidt

The salty smell of salty smelling salt water smelled salty in Josefine's nose.

It was salty.

As far as she could see there was only ocean.

Standing on top of the deck of her fully automated ship, Josefine took a healthy bite out of a chocolate bar she had gripped tightly in her hand. A stiff breeze could take this precious nutrition from her any second now, so it was necessary to apply some amount of force to the (only slightly) expired piece of candy.

After mentally providing the exposition needed for a reader of a yet non-existant biography to immerse themselves in her current situation, she addressed her ship.

It had taken quite the masculine shape.

"Lotte..."

An endearing nickname she had given to her companion. A small gesture to ease up the situation between her and her ship.

"Do not call me that. Stand straight. Stop eating candy. And what is that flag supposed to be?"

Josefine almost jammed the chocolate into her ears as the bellowing orders of her ship steadily increased in volume.

"Austria?"

"But the ship's flag is supposed to represent the ship! Who cares from what kind of substandard hole the captain of a ship crawled out of, the flag should be the ship's nation."

"You know we can't change that up right now, right?" With a slightly angered expression Josefine replied.

"I insist, no, I demand that you change that ugly flag up." The AI crossed her arms as she stated her demand.

The woman sighed. "The thing is I do not feel comfortable with the other one you said you wanted..." said Josefine, her mouth filled with just enough chocolate to not impair her speech.

"Is there are problem?" the AI asked innocently.

"It's kind of...how should I put this."

"Displaying a pride long lost?"

"It's a swastika."

"Yes, and?"

"...just...just fight, alright. I will put it up once you win."

Where nobody can see it

[SeiKeo]

Match A

BB Nagato H6 to H7
Destroyer G5 to G7
Destroyer G5 to G7
Destroyer I6 to G8

BB Große Kurfurst I5 to H6
Destroyer E4 to D5
Destroyer H5 to F6
Destroyer I5 to K6

Setsuko discards Torpedo Ace and Ersatz to remove Scotty.

Map:


Blue Team, moves

Match C coming when Buster tells me where boat goes in the boat salt.

[Vritra]

Ryan Cooper
Match B Gold Team
Turn 1 Phase 2

So we got someone nice that’s a relief, always nice to know I have at least a little bit of luck in me.

“The plan sounds good to me” I respond to my new teammate

“Full steam ahead matey there is plunder to be won, yaaar” which is soon followed by Illustrious in her usual manner.

Spoiler:

Fleet
CV Illustrious 1G to 3G
Torpedo Cruiser 1I to 3I
Cruiser 1G to 3G
Cruiser 1H to 3H
Destroyer 1I to 3I

Hand
Played
Scotty on French cruiser 15K
Discard Rally and Survivalist to remove fighter ace on F4F Wildcat