The Olympian Sisters #3 The Gilded Age

Chapter 1

SOUTHAMPTON ENGLAND AUGUST 1918 "OLYMPIC"

Since the Armistice a week earlier, the whole of England was in an uproar. Celebrations had been going on day and night. "The unmistakable sound of the English enjoying themselves." As Arizona would say.

I hadn't seen the battleship since February and I missed her dearly. With Britannic gone, she was the closest thing I had to a sister, but she was also in a position of great power and responsibility. From what I'd heard recently, America's naval leader, America was in a bad way since her retirement. She had completely stepped down from her post. As her deputy, Arizona was now in command of the whole US fleet.

The US squadron had yet to return home so Arizona didn't know about her new position yet. I knew I'd have to keep my distance as she'd need to set a good example for her fleet and she'd done nothing but break the rules with me.

My thoughts were interrupted by a group of celebrating US soldiers marching down the dock. I could see that they were drunk because several were stumbling out of formation. "God bless England and God bless America!" They sang. I rolled my eyes.

"Looks like someone had too much scotch to drink." I muttered to Celtic. She laughed. "Or whiskey." She agreed. I sighed. I hated this next part of the 'hosting' job.

"Alright, come on! Hammocks are open on B-deck!" I called. The men at once staggered and stumbled their way up the gangplank. "Thank you." They managed to slur in English Shiptongue. Despite being born and bred Americans they were sounding very Irish.

I stifled a snigger with words like "Yeah, sure anytime. Make yourself at home." My thoughts were just the opposite however. They were more like "Idiots! Imbeciles! Didn't their moms ever teach them not to drink booze?" And so on.

Fortunately, over the years I had become an expert at hiding my thoughts from passengers and crewman alike. As much as I wanted to give my American drunks swimming lessons, I did kinda feel sorry for them.

They'd been away from home for two years in unfamiliar territory. And most of that time was spent sitting in a ditch somewhere in France or shooting or getting shot at by the Germans.

"If they're going to have a roaring headache in the morning, the least I can do is give them a place to cool their hot heads." I muttered to Celtic. She shrugged. "If you say so, Olympic." She yawned.

Just then, Baltic came steaming in, a fleet of sailboats chasing after her. "Hey! Oh, come on, give me a break!" She groaned. The little sailboats were nipping at her stern and sides.

"Get her!" They yowled. I groaned. "Hey, do you think you can keep it down a little. My men will have a headache bad enough in the morning without your noise giving them a migraine instead." I called to her. "Then they should've known better than to get roaring drunk." She shot back. "Ouch!" She yelped, turning to look at the sailboat that bit her side.

"Seriously. Why?" She groaned. "Well, why not. The war's over. Can't you at least play with us Baltic?" Morning Star asked. "Yeah, can you? Can you?" The others sang. Baltic dropped into a crouch. "Oh, you wanna play do ya?" She asked. "Boo!" She growled. The sailboats yelped and scattered. "You've got until the count of 10 before the big bad serpent comes and gets ya. 1, 2, 3... 8, 9, 10, here comes the serpent and she's hungry for some little sailboats." Baltic said and ran off. Celtic was laughing. I was annoyed. "That ship's got no time clock." I growled. "She never has." Celtic muttered.

On board, the troops decided that they were not quite drunk enough yet to go to bed. They raided the pantries for liquor and found it by the barrels. I was a big ship, so I could carry a huge store of provisions, and unfortunately that included liquor.