>>3036072
>>Screw it, you're hungry. Head out and figure things out as you go along.

>>3036072
>Screw it, you're hungry. Head out and figure things out as you go along.
Shit, I didn't get as much time to reread as I thought.

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>>3036072
>Doin a hunger

You give your uniform jacket a final brush-down in front of the mirror. Not bad. You rock back and forth on the balls of your feet, and though there's still a little weakness, you feel confident enough you'll be fine without using Vindy's exo-thingy.

You give your jacket's hem another needless tug, and realise you're just trying to stretch this out. Feeling annoyed, you push open the door to your dorm and stride out... to find yourself in a corridor lined with doors. Hm.

After a bit of exploring you find the stairs down to ground level, and come out into a common area with couches, chairs, and a tv. It's empty at current, which isn't surprising, since according to your chronometer it's almost 1000 hours. No reason to stick around then.

The heat hits you like a physical thing as you emerge outside, and raise a hand reflexively against the harsh glare of the sun. It's already in the high 70s and if yesterday was any indication it's probably going to keep rising. You take a moment to roll up your sleeves before looking around. The base is already looking pretty busy, even if you can't see any shipgirls around.

A work party of soldiers are loading the remains of a SAM system onto a trailer, while a squad in PT gear jog past. You can feel the gaze of a few of them, and ignore them pointedly. Rising over the top of the nearby residential buildings is the industrial factories. Maybe you could find Vindy and ask her. Or maybe you could try figuring out the map loaded into your in-head display.

>Ask the work party for directions.
>Find Vindy and ask her.
>Try and figure out your map.
>Write-in

>>3036110
Don't worry anon, I'm here for the next 7 hours with nothing to do.

>>3036241
>>Try and figure out your map.

>>3036241
>Try and figure out your map.

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>>3036241
>Try and read the map.

Well, it can't be too hard. With a thought, the tiny map hovering in the corner of the vision expands, and you can see a much greater area- almost the entire base, in fact, though its scope ends just before the armoured concrete leads to the marshland. Now, let's see...

>Roll 1d100, best of 3

Rolled 28 (1d100)

>>3036326

Rolled 17, 53 = 70 (2d100)

>>3036326
fuck it let's go

Rolled 11 (1d100)

>>3036326

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>>3036326
>28
oof

Aha, there we go. There's the canteen. You think. Well, only one way to find out! You close the map with another thought, and head off with a confident stride that's only slightly undermined by the fact you're still limping slightly. As you walk down one of the main concourses of the base, you take care to stay out of the way of small buggies, more platoons of soldiers running in formation, and really anyone else. You note with interest that most of the enlisted you pass salute you, while the lower-ranked officers tend to nod (and one lieutenant that looks so wet behind the ears he needs a towel salutes you too). Maybe you should ask Arleigh if you're meant to salute anyone.

You're so distracted with your thoughts that you don't realise how lost you've gotten until you emerge onto the same dock you were on yesterday when you went out to fight the Abyssal cruisers. A mile or so down-river there's a cluster of heavy lifting ships, presumably trawling the bottom for the remains.

"Damn." You frown, and you're about to bring your map back up when you spot somebody sitting on the dock with their legs hanging off- a girl holding a fishing rod. She's not watching the reclamation efforts, but rather gazing out over the endless swamp flats surrounding the base.

>Go talk to the girl, ask for directions.
>No time for chatting. Try again with your map.

>>3036410
>>Go talk to the girl, ask for directions.

>>3036410
>Go talk to the girl, ask for directions.

>>3036410
>Go talk to the girl, ask for directions.

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>>3036410
>Talk to her

You shrug to yourself, and wander over to the dock. "Uh... hi?" The girl looks around at you, and smiles.

"Oh, hey there." There's a beat as she frowns slightly. "I don't think we've met, have we?"

You shake your head, "No, I'm new, I only... woke up? Yesterday." You explain.

"Ah! Well in that case, it's lovely to meet you." She clambers up onto her feet. "HMS Exeter. A pleasure." She offers her hand, and you take it. "Now, what might you be doing around here, if I may ask?"

"Well, I was looking for the canteen, but..." You give a self-deprecating shrug. "I got lost."

Exeter's eyebrows lift up, but to her credit, her mouth doesn't twitch more than a centimetre. "I see. Would you like a guide? I could do with a cup of tea myself."

>You'd like that very much.
>You don't want to put her out of her way- directions are fine.
>Write-in.

>>3036510
>>If she's offering? Sure. Don't want to take her away from something if she's busy though.

>>3036510
>>You'd like that very much.

>>3036510
>You'd like that very much.
She must be really impressed with our spatial literacy, like watching someone try to speak English and mangle it so badly that it becomes fluent Romanian.

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>>3036510
>You can't be trusted alone with a map

"Yes, please." You nod. "If you're not busy that is."

Exeter waves a hand as she turns to collect her fishing rod. "It's fine. I just sit out here for some peace and quiet as it is." Indeed, she has no bait of any kind. Well, fair enough. She gestures and you drop in beside her as she leads the way back from the dock.

"So why are you out here, anyway?" You ask to break the silence.

"Oh, well, I love my sisters dearly but when we're all up together it doesn't take long for us to get on each other's nerves. Doubly so when all the scuttlebutt says we'll be up to something soon." She shakes her head with a fond little smile. "But, if you're new, you must be the new American. There's been plenty of scuttlebutt about you too, you know. How are you getting on?"

>Boast
>Neutral
>Polite

>>3036652
>>Polite

>>3036652
>Polite

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>>3036652
>Polite

"Oh, I'm okay, thank you." You give a slight shrug. "Yesterday was a little overwhelming I suppose... I don't recall seeing you there?"

"I know, I heard, poor thing." Exeter gives you a sympathetic smile, then shakes her head, "I and my sisters only arrived last night with the lions. Something about a new taskforce."

The pair of you idly chat as Exeter continues to lead you unerringly through the base- truly, you can only wonder at her sense of map-reading. She's telling you about patrolling the abandoned South coast as the pair of you round a corner to find Arleigh and a corporal jumping away from each other. Arleigh's face is flushed.

"O-oh, hey sis!" She stammers, and clears her throat. "I was just, uh... looking for you." Her eyes flick to the side for a moment. "Corporal Davis was helping me." That makes sense. You probably shouldn't have made her worry.

"Well, I ran into Exeter here, she was just helping me find the canteen." You glance over at the British shipgirl, who has a little smirk on her face. You can't imagine why.

"Good to see you again, Arleigh."

"Yeah, you too, Exie."

There's a long, strangely awkward pause, and then the corporal clears his throat. He's a fairly big specimen, with close-cropped blonde hair and solid build.

"Well, I should, uh... duty, you know..." He mumbles, sketching a salute and hurriedly extricating himself. Arleigh watches him go with a little shake of the head and what you could swear is a sigh, then turns back to you.

"You're heading to the canteen, sis? C'mon, I'll show you." Arleigh links her arm in yours, and starts worrying over your slight limp immediately.

--

Exeter excuses herself after getting a cup of tea from the canteen, so Arleigh sits with you while you eat. The canteen is mostly empty between shifts as it is, but there's a couple tables of enlisted. You pile your tray with what the soldiers behind the counter tells you is a 'proper English' breakfast, and Arleigh grabs a muffin to reduce to crumbs then idly nibble on while you stuff your face.

"So, what'd you wanna do today, sis? The Admiral wants to put you through your trials whenever you can, but I'm not sure you're up for it... Maybe we could go see Vindy about improvements to your Rig, she's pretty stingy about them though, oh! Maybe I could introduce you to some of the other girls?"

Arleigh's smiling as she counts off potential activities, happily slipping back into the roll of (slightly overbearing) big sister.

>You're fine, you should go through your war trials now to get it out the way.
>You'd like to talk to Vindictive, even if it's just to learn how your Rig works.
>Sure, meeting up with the girls you're going to be working with as soon as possible sounds best.
>Suggest another activity (write-in).

I'm a little busier than expected, so I'll be spending the remainder of my shift working to make sure I can leave on time. Next post will be tomorrow morning probably!

>>3036903
>You'd like to talk to Vindictive, even if it's just to learn how your Rig works.

>>3036903
>You'd like to talk to Vindictive, even if it's just to learn how your Rig works.

>>3036903
>Sure, meeting up with the girls you're going to be working with as soon as possible sounds best.

>>3036903
>You'd like to talk to Vindictive, even if it's just to learn how your Rig works.

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I overslept and still feel like death.

>>3036903
>Suck up to Vindy

"Well-" You try to talk through some sausage and almost end it falling back onto your plate. On second thoughts, no eating with mouth full. Arleigh looks on with a kind of amused disgust as you almost spit over her, but you keep it under control.
"As I was saying," You continue after swallowing, "I think I want to go talk to Vindy. I'm still a bit wobbly on my feet, so I want to make sure I know how my Rig works at least."

"Sounds good." Arleigh nods, and scoops another pile of muffin crumbs into her mouth. You roll your eyes and reapply yourself to your breakfast.

--

Half an hour later you feel pleasantly full as you step out of the canteen, despite the fact you've eaten enough for three grown men.

"Oh, that's normal." Arleigh explains when you mention it. "We always eat more than normal humans and you've been through a lot already, you poor thing." You can't help but crack a smile at her sugar-sweet tone as she slips an arm around your shoulders and gives you a hug.
"I really am proud of you, though." She continues, leading the way across the base towards the tall factory building you met Vindy in yesterday. "I mean, not only are you my sister, you've done more in your first day than some girls do in their first month! I mean, I doubt you're gonna be as awesome as me, but you're getting there."

Your snort is so loud it makes a couple of enlisted walking past turn in surprise.

--

The noise of the Armoury is, as always, immense. The sound of cutting metal competes with shouting, the regular thud-thud-thud of some machine reverberates through the building and you're pretty sure it's at least ten degrees hotter when you step in. You and Arleigh take a moment to get used to the aural assault before containing, carefully making your way past a team of men in blue overalls working on the chassis of some kind of tracked vehicle, and another welding together an A-frame. Vindictive is working in her personal workshop at the rear of the building. A Rig is held in a unit up to eye-level, and she's doing... something to it.

"Vindy!" Arleigh shouts above the din, but she doesn't hear. "Vinny! Vindster! Vinman! VINDICTIVE!" At the final word, Vindy finally hears, and turns around with a dirty look. "You don't need to shout." She tuts, placing her tool aside carefully. She does everything carefully you've noticed, but then she does only have the one arm.

>Ask about your Rig.
>Ask how she's doing.
>Ask what she's working on.
>Ask something else (write-in).

>>3038056
>>Ask what she's working on.

>>3038056
>Ask what she's working on.

>>3038056
>Ask what she's working on.

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My apologies, I got called into work today and then had D&D.

>>3038056
>Ask what she's working on.

You step forward and look over the Rig. "What is it?" Your voice is lost in the background din.

"What?" Vindy calls back.

"I said, what is it!?" You reply, louder.

"I cannae hear you!" She replies. "Come w'me!"

Vindy leads you into the office suites with their inoffensive blue carpeting and offensively plain cream walls. As soon as the doors shut behind you, the noise drops by about 40 decibels. Instead of the planning office you saw her in the first time, she instead leads you and Arleigh to a small kitchen, where she starts busying herself with the kettle.

"Sorry, y'were saying?" She opens up a cupboard and starts taking down mugs- Arleigh steps in to help, but Vindy just waves a hand at her. "Been doing this m'self for years, I don't need your help now." You get the sense this is a common occurrence as Arleigh steps back with a roll of her eyes.

"I, uh..." You frown, trying to get your thoughts back on track. "Yeah, what were you working on?"

"Oh, that?" Vindy starts rummaging through the cupboards. "It's just my Rig, is all. Personal project, y'know." She sounds a little evasive.

>Push it, what's she up to?
>Turn the conversation to your own Rig.
>Enquire about the weapons you saw Arleigh and the other girls using yesterday.
>Ask about something else (write-in).

>>3039556
>Enquire about the weapons you saw Arleigh and the other girls using yesterday.

>>3039556
>>Turn the conversation to your own Rig.

>>3039556
>Turn the conversation to your own Rig.
HOW DO I USE THE COOL FEATURES
HOW DO I USE THE RADAR WITHOUT GIVING MYSELF A HEADACHE

>>3039556
>>Turn the conversation to your own Rig.

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>>3039556
>Teach me senpai

"Well, uh, I was hoping to talk about my Rig." Meanwhile, Vindy is carefully pouring boiling water into mugs containing teabags.

"Ah, sure. Usually y'd've spent a week or two workin' up, while we got y'used to it, but, well." She glances over to you, "Handled it pretty well though. Arleigh, can'ye grab the milk?"

Your sister obediently opens up the fridge, and this time she insists on pouring the milk out of the large, heavy carton herself. Vindy rewards her with a thunderous look, but doesn't argue.

"Anyway," The shipgirl looks back up at you as she stirs her tea, "I dunnae have long, I have a meeting with m'boys soon and your Rig to finish. We can cover other stuff later in the week, but I can help you with something for now."

>Manoeuvring.
>Navigation and radar.
>Main gun fire control.
>Missile tasking.
>Other (write-in).

>>3039727
Shit, that's the wrong pic.

>>3039727
>>Navigation and radar.

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>>3039727
>Manoeuvring.

>>3039734
image related

>>3039727
>>Navigation and radar.

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>>3039727
>How can I look up skirts with my radar

"Yesterday I was getting a headache whenever I tried to use my radar too much. Could you help me with that?"

"Ah, that sounds like your headware wasn't prop'ly accepting the feed. Next time..."

Vindy hands you one of the mugs as she begins to explain, giving you advice on how to handle feeds from your sensor systems as well as re-programming the somewhat generic translation software into something that would better suit you. Arleigh chimes in occasionally, as she has experience in the field, but mostly you find that Vindy has a surprisingly good teaching method. By the time you've all finished your mugs of tea, Vindy thinks for a long moment before nodding.

"Well, that's the basics I suppose. Dunnae worry, we can set up more teaching sessions later."

Skill advanced!
Sensors: Greenhorn > Rookie

>Training in skills will give you bonuses to rolls, and in some situations present different, better courses of actions. Skills will take longer to level up the higher they go!

"Well, I suppose we shouldn't impose on you anymore, Vindy." Arleigh says, helping wash up the mugs.

"Yeah, I really need t'be goin'. Your rig should be up to base specs now, okay Mahan?"

"Okay, thanks." You offer up a smile, and Vindy replies it with a somewhat more exhausted one as she makes her way out.

"Alright!" Arleigh sets the mugs to drain and checks her watch. "I reckon we have time for something before dinner, but after that I want you to have an early night! So what'll it be?"

>Take up Arleigh's offer to introduce you to some of the other girls.
>Ask about putting some time in on the gunnery range.
>Maybe it's time to put you through your maneuvering trials.
>See if you can find an intel weenie to bug for more info about your upcoming mission.
>Suggest something else (write-in).

Bedtime for now, and I'll try to be more active tomorrow!

>>3040028

>Take up Arleigh's offer to introduce you to some of the other girls.

>>3040028
we need to meet the team and get used to them. Jolly cooperation!

>>3040028
Also at some point soon I'll work on putting together a thing to keep track of skills (and other stuff at the story progresses).

Of course, if you guys don't like the system at any point, feel free to let me know! This stuff is for you as much as it is for me.

>>3040028
>Take up Arleigh's offer to introduce you to some of the other girls.

>>3040028
>>Take up Arleigh's offer to introduce you to some of the other girls.

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>>3040028
>Time to start collecting your harem

"I'd like to start meeting people." You decide. "If we're going to be working with them, then the sooner the better."

"Sounds good." Arleigh nods. "Besides," She cracks a smile, "If you know other people it means you won't be following me around like a lost puppy."

"I'm not-!" You realise from your sister's grin that she's just winding you up, and roll your eyes instead.

"Come on." Arleigh slips her arm through one of yours as tugs you towards the door. "Daring and Dragon are still in sickbay I think, you wanna go catch up? Or, let's see, Exie says her sisters and her are moving in. Orrrrrr, I heard our heavy support came in last night too. We could see if we could welcome 'em!"

>Catch up with Daring and Dragon in Sickbay.
>Meet Exeter and her sisters in the dorms.
>Go find your new task force's battleship division.

>>3041157
>>Go find your new task force's battleship division.

>>3041157
>Catch up with Daring and Dragon in Sickbay.
They'll appreciate visitors, I hope.

>>3041157
>Catch up with Daring and Dragon in Sickbay.

>>3041157
>>Catch up with Daring and Dragon in Sickbay.

You're not the Pixel from Xcom quest but just happen to have a similar name ?

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>>3041157
>Get those nurse costumes

"How about we check in on Daring and Dragon, then?" You agree.

"Sure! I was gonna suggest we check in on them this morning but you took ages to wake up, and you were just sooo peaceful I couldn't bear to wake you." You give a half-hearted scowl to match Arleigh's sunburst smile.

--

Walking back through the armoury is an unenjoyable but short experience. Unfortunately, you've been in there long enough that the temperature has risen even more, and with it the humidity.

"Ugh. You know, I hear Iceland still gets cool in the winter. If nothing else, we should kick 'em out of the place just so we can go there."

"Nah, we should see about getting leave to go to, uh..." You suddenly realise you have little to no geographic knowledge outside general terms that you seem to just know, so you take a moment to access the base Net through your implants. "Ah! The North Pole."

"Good idea, sis." Arleigh agrees, patting your arm. "Usually I'm the brains of this outfit, but I think you'll get there in the end."

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And I'm afraid that's where I'll be ending it for this week. I'm starting to think I'm cursed- whenever I say something like "I should be free" everything seems to just fall into my lap. Yesterday it was work, today it was family drama.

Anyway, I was hoping to at least finish this scene with Daring and Dragon, but that'll have to wait until next time. I'm not sure when I'll be running next, so make sure to check my twitter for updates.

I hope you enjoyed and have a good night!

>>3042313
Also, no. Sorry!

>>3042313
XCOM Trooper QM is just Pixel.

>>3042419
G'night, and good luck.