The sounds of distant seagulls and waves crashing echoed across the harbor, machinery being operated sounded behind us and accompanying them was people discussing amongst themselves over the most trivial things with some occasional laughter sounding off randomly from the masses, and metal groaning softly in short intervals as well as the distant pitter patter of water softly falling against concrete in the dry dock near us.
And yet nothing could take our attention off of this woman, not even for a second.
None of us made a sound and all hopes of this being a simple yet pleasant conversation went clear out the window the second she told us what her name was.
Everybody knew of the story surrounding the Ourang Medan, there was not one person on base who could say that they hadn't, elder ship girls would tell it to the younger ones as a scary story and they would talk about it amongst themselves until they each had nightmares of sinking ships and people being scared to literal death.
Some of them even dressed themselves in sheets and body paint to portray a lackluster appearance of the ghostly ship herself as part of a Halloween costume or prank on the others.
Occasionally groups of people would even gather to discuss the possibility of such a ship even existing with the extreme lack of evidence and proof pointing strongly against and the reasons as to why it disappeared if it did.
Nobody ever paid any attention to those people because nobody would ever believe them, their fables of government conspiracies and extra-terrestrial beings made it hard to do so.
Although, after the sirens had arrived, people started listening to the back-half of those stories a lot more.
Which is probably why it was so hard to understand that all of those theories, all of those ridiculous stories they told suddenly had some base proof to back it up.
The ship herself given form.
Nobody knew how to respond next and we each just shuffled awkwardly waiting for the next shoe to fall, for her to tell us that it was just a joke, for anything really.
Even Enterprise didn't seem to know what to do next as she blankly stared between the rest of us and the woman at her side.
The woman, who was beginning to notice the tension in the air, seemed to be getting more afraid by the minute.
I cleared my throat and asked, "Um... do you mind repeating yourself?"
She looked around at all of us, "...I'm the VC2-S-AP1 Ourang Medan?"
There was a brief moment of silence as I stood back up and held my palms together in front of me, "You mean to say that you're the Ourang Medan?"
"Yes, I am."
"THE Ourang Medan?!"
She seemed to get more afraid at the emphasis of my words and her name, "...Yes?" she answered hesitantly.
Looking around a bit more, she bravely asked: "What's the matter?"
"You don't exist."
"What?"
"The Ourang Medan is a story ship girls use to scare and prank each other, it's just a myth."
"A... A myth?!" She cried out softly.
We stood there for a bit before she raised her voice again, "What... What stories do they tell?"
The operator spoke up this time to answer her, "They usually talk about a... a ghost ship. A Dutch Freighter in distress. That the last message sent was the words 'I die' and that they found... that they found every crew member and animal lying dead on the floor in a state of absolute fear before the ship exploded and sank."
"There were other reports but... yeah." She couldn't seem to continue anymore and neither could I once we had seen how the poor girl reacted, she was shaking terribly and had tears streaming down her face clearly having been affected by the tale in some way.
She must have carried a lot of trauma with her.
Enterprise noticed her emotional reaction and turned to hold her in her arms and comfort her which seemed to work because she started to calm down after a couple of minutes.
She turned to me and asked still holding her; "Maybe we should continue this later." I nodded my head in affirmation and watched as she picked up the smaller woman and walked away, headed back towards the car.
Excepting the three others there, we each made our way back inside the vehicle still unable to say anything amongst ourselves, we had expected for this to be a simple pleasantry, a welcome back to civilization and instead we got the shock of our lives.
Each of the doors of the vehicle were shut and we were ready to take off but before I could give the order, the operator started knocking on the window of the car which I rolled down shortly after.
"...Can I help you?"
"I know while this may not seem like a good time and everything. But I was wondering if I could schedule a meeting with you about... something."
"Sure... can I have your name then."
"Oh, yeah! Sorry, I forgot myself for a moment. My name is Aubrey Nicholson."
"Right then... Um... when would you want that meeting, then?"
"I would hope as soon as possible but if not, a week?"
"Sounds agreeable."
She leaned back away from the window and stood stiffly, "Have a great day, Commander!" she saluted.
I gently waved back, "You as well." I responded and closed the window, watching as she walked away from the car and joined up with the other two workers who had already begun to leave.
And from there we drove off back towards the hospital, stopping briefly at the gate before joining back with the main road, the rest of the ride remaining silent as we tried to keep our eyes on the passing landscape occasionally looking back to see the woman sitting quietly next to Enterprise staring out the window with equal parts fascination and worry.
The hospital employees, safe to say were not amused, not only were they sent into a panic when they walked into their ward only to find it completely empty with both persons, one of whom was majorly injured but they were extremely furious with how their patient seemed to disregard her personal safety and risked serious injury by heading outside on her own in a complete frenzy.
They thankfully relaxed a bit when we informed them of the situation at the time, raising their eyebrows when we told her the actually name of the patient but returned them with a look of shock when they took note of our equally tired expressions.
They looked her over for a bit removing the bits of debris that caught on her wrappings and placed her back in her bed, this time chaining her to it, she looked conflicted about it but choose instead not to say anything about it giving the trouble she gave them.
Her chart was updated too, her vessel classification replacing the Jane Doe in her naming section and occasionally a nurse would come into the room and check on her, taking a look at the chart in disbelief before quickly walking back out again.
I was currently chatting to Belfast about what our next move should be while Washington and Vestal sat on a nearby bed chatting amongst themselves and Enterprise stood guard over the woman in question.
"So," I asked her, "what do you think we should do?"
"Well obviously, we don't want to come down on her too hard with the questions when she's this unstable."
She looked back over at the pair, "But it's not like we can just wait until she calms down to ask her, you remember how I was at the beginning."
"As I recall, you were quite confused and worried. Clinging to me as if I were a teddy bear."
She turned back with a furious blush growing quickly on her face and gave me a hard shove, "Oh, shush it!" she whispered intensely as I chuckled a bit at her embarrassment.
She collected herself and continued, "The point is I was unaware and afraid, I had just suddenly found myself in a new world and a new form, I was alone and I needed someone to hang on to." and she gestured to me with a grumpy look being sure to draw out the last three words of her sentence very slowly.
She sighed, "But she, she's in an entirely different situation. It's obvious from her behavior that she has been alone for a long, long time without anyone to comfort her. She'll have trouble dealing with her emotions and trauma which if handled incorrectly, could only end up hurting her even more."
"So what do you suggest?"
"I... I think that we should do the same that was done with me, talk about what has happened and where we came from, get the help we need to prepare her for normal life and introduce her slowly to the world to help her adjust to her new form and to those around her... except."
"Except?"
"Except I think that she should be paired with someone, someone we know she'll trust to be around her twenty-four seven and deal with any issues she might face or need help with, much like I did with you before I was sent back to train in the Royal Navy."
I looked between her and the two people resting behind her, switching between the two before coming to a decision, "Alright." I said before walking back over to them, Belfast following shortly behind and Washington and Vestal stopping their discussion so that they could listen respectfully.
Enterprise noticed our arrival and sat back up in her bed while Miss... Medan? 'No, that doesn't sound right... The woman.' while the woman pushed herself up as far as she could go, considering handcuffs and tried not to show how scared she was for what came next.
"Yes, commander?" Enterprise spoke.
"Um... Me and Belfast talked it over for a little bit and decided that we should probably go over the whole story so long as we're here and since all that we really know about you are some random stories and rumors... as long as it's all right with you." And I gestured over to the woman laying in bed.
Her eyes darted a bit as she tried to make a decision before finally answering, "I guess... I guess it's only fair."
I sat down next to Enterprise on the adjacent bed and started my questioning.
"So, cards on the table. Are you really the Ourang Medan?"
"Y-Yes. Yes, of course. Did you think I had lied back then on the dock?"
"No, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't imagining things."
"All... All right."
"Okay. So, how long were you left out there alone?"
"I was alone here for only a day or two, the second one being today but if you're counting my... previous... life? I think around... seventy years?"
My mind stalled for a moment as I tried to process the information given, 'Sev-Seventy years?! But Victory ships haven't even been discontinued for that long.' and I didn't have to look around the room to tell that everyone else was thinking the same exact thing.
"Seventy years?" I repeated.
"...Yes, I think so."
I decided move on for the moment, "Okay... well then, do you think you could tell us what you last remember from... your world."
She paused for a moment and looked somber at the request, "I... I had been boarded by a group of people, three of whom had taken the other five captive. Um... One of the attackers died, another left with the other five and the last one he... he attacked the rescue team."
"Rescue team?"
"The group that they kidnapped tried calling for a rescue using my radio in case they couldn't get the distributor cap for their vessel but when they left on their boat after getting it, the rescue team came anyways.
"And the last of the men attacked them."
"Yes, he... he beat every single one of them to death with a sledgehammer, they didn't... they didn't stand a chance."
"And what happened to the man?"
"He uh... he died shortly after. Heart attack."
"Did he die from the stress of the situation or something else?"
She opened her mouth to answer but seemed to realize something and instead fidgeted with the buttons on her gown.
"Miss?"
"Can we um... ca-can you ask a different question please?"
I wanted to press her for the answer but knew that it wouldn't help with the discussion, it would only make her less inclined to talk so I moved on to the next question.
"That's quite alright. We can come back to it later if you'd like." She nodded in agreement.
"Let's move onto the less personal questions, when where you first laid?"
"L-Laid?"
Belfast shot me a bit of a dirty look so I clarified, "Sorry, I guess I should have been more specific. I meant when where you built?"
"I was... My construction began on April 17, 1944 and was launched 8 days later."
"When did you begin service?"
"The day after I passed my sea trials, May 26."
"When did you leave service?"
"Well... I... uh..."
"You... You were taken out of service. Weren't you?"
She seemed to think long and hard with her answer tossing it around a couple times before deciding on something, "I wouldn't say I was ever taken out of service, not really."
Now that answer was confusing, from the state she was in and the age she apparently is, I would have taken her out of service ages ago unless of course she was...
Oh god.
"N-Next question, when was the last voyage you took and for what reasons?"
"My last voyage was on March 13, 1947, I was to set sail from the Republic of China to San Francisco with a cargo of vehicles and ammunitions as well as the bodies of a few soldiers that just so happened to meet their fate."
"I see, I see. Okay then, I think I have about all I need. Just one or two question left, I should think."
She hummed in agreement and prepped for the last two things I would ask, 'I know I said I would take it easy but it seems easier to rip the bandage off now than to let the wound fester underneath.' I then took in a slow drawn-out breath and spoke...
"What was it that caused you to be abandoned."
Her eyes widened in shock though it seemed like she almost expected to be coming, Belfast hit me on the shoulder for asking the question so bluntly and Enterprise moved off the bed and sat down next to the woman in question.
"Commander, you know I respect you as a leader and our companion but you have no right to ask that, and so rudely too! What proof do you even have that she had that happen to her aside from-"
"He's right." She interrupted forcing Enterprise to look over at her in concern.
"And to be honest I was kind of expecting it, I just hoped that it would have lasted a little bit longer than this."
"So... Would you like to tell us all what happened."
She was quiet only for a moment before answering, "All right."
She took a breath, "I wasn't just transporting trucks and weapons, I was also carrying a cargo of hallucinogens."
"Hallucinogens?"
"Chemicals. They came from a facility under the guise of a water purification plant in China and were developed by the US government, it was a... a hazardous bio-weapon codenamed Manchurian Gold that could cause hallucinations that induce extreme fear and paranoia often causing those inflicted to attack each other before dying from prolonged exposure."
"Let me guess, heart attack."
"That's right... They tested the chemicals on human subjects to observe its affects but couldn't figure out how to stop its properties from affecting other soldiers due to its instability, it's probably what cost those people in the coffins their lives, so they decided to have it shipped back to America for further testing."
"Why do you think they would do that?"
"Probably so that they could observe and test its affects directly, as well as to keep it close to homeland in case the facility was attacked by the enemy trying to get their hands on it."
"Sound logic. Carry on."
"Alright... so anyways, the chemical in its solid form still gave off a lighter version of its effects, causing the guards stationed in the cargo hold to hallucinate but not be driven crazy which in turn started building tension between the crew members of somethings that they saw and then..."
And then..."
"Well... due to the unstable nature of the chemicals themselves, they were highly sensitive to certain properties such as exposure to other liquids, extreme heat and electricity, for this reason the guards were supposed to keep the hold as dry as possible but because of the secrecy of all this they were not told to look out for that."
"What... what happened?"
"...We had gotten lost somewhere in the South Pacific because of a storm and I was anchored in shallow waters somewhere near the islands of Tiputa and Tikehau to prevent me from breaking my back and to keep us from loosing our position. It was only until after anchoring that I was struck by lightning sending electricity surging through me, over-charging certain systems and breaking several lights before reaching the cargo hold the chemicals were stored in."
"It arched across the room and struck the crates, super-charging the already unstable chemicals and liquifying a small portion of it, the electricity along with the water mixing with liquid chemicals leaking from the cargo created a gas that quickly spread throughout the ship."
"And it... it all happened so fast. Before I knew what was happening, the crew started to turn on each other and dying, they had become so deeply affected that they were driven mad and attacking at whatever they thought would attack them. Some were able to see what was happening and managed to send out a distress signal but the damage had been done, they fired at the rescue plane and brought it down and those who had found a gas mask to protect against this were shot by their fellow crew mates."
"Until finally..." She chocked back a sob, she had started crying at some point during her explanation of her past and she struggled to find her breath.
None of us wanted to be rude and ask for her to continue, Belfast and Vestal had even started to cry silent tears along with her all while me, Washington and Enterprise each wore an expression of disbelief and slight horror, so we gave her the time to calm down.
Eventually, she managed it and continued on with the story still crying slightly but quieter now, "...Until finally everyone on the ship was dead, killed off from utter fear, their crewmates or themselves. Leaving me all alone. Alone floating in the middle of the ocean for over seventy years as an empty vessel of death."
She had a blank stare as she said that last part and then suddenly looked directly at me startlingly, sending me flinching back a little.
"...And that brings us right back here. Now you know the truth behind the mystery and I'm sure that you want nothing to do with me, and I don't blame you. I wouldn't want a monster around that only brings bad luck to them either. Just say the word and I'll leave, you'll never see me or have to deal with me again."
I looked at her in disbelief as I'm sure everyone else did, did she really believe that after hearing about her past that we would just want to throw her away like a piece of trash simple because of what happened out of her control.
Only a real monster would do that.
I cleared my thought, "If you think that we're going to send you away because of something like that, then you are clearly wrong."
"...What?"
"We don't turn people away, especially those that need our help solely because of something from their past, we help them recover to the best of our ability and offer them the chance to redeem themselves no matter the crime."
She started sobbing again at my words, "B-But... But I-"
"We're not going to abandon you and leave you to disappear," Enterprise interrupted and moved back over to her, hugging her tightly. "We won't let that happen to you again, I won't let that happen."
We all watched as she slowly relaxed into the taller woman's arms and I gestured to Belfast and the others to leave so we could give them some time to calm down from this emotional over-load.
I stood up from the bed and gestured towards the two of them, "As of this moment, you are an honorary member and ward of Azur Lane and we will do everything in our power to protect you."
"Enterprise." She looked up at me in response, "I am entrusting you with caring for our patient here, I want you with her at all times. She seems to trust you the most and you can teach her the ropes."
She nodded and I moved back to the woman who was looking up at me expectantly.
"And as for you, I want you to try and relax. Nobody's going to hurt you and you have no enemies here. Try to focus on thinking up a proper name we can call you cause I don't think that Ourang or Miss Medan are gonna cut it."
She paused a moment before nodding her head as well, I then stood up, wished them a nice evening, and joined the small group gathered by the door outside following them back to the car.
"Well, that was certainly an eventful day."
Belfast hummed in reply and removed my articles of clothing from her person and placed them in their respective spots, placing my hat and jacket in their cubby and my watch on my desk.
"And tiring," she said as I removed my shoes and loosened my necktie, "Need me to prepare the bed for you?"
"No, I think I can handle that myself. You go ahead and get yourself ready, you've been up long enough and I need you feeling refreshed and ready for tomorrow."
She bowed and walked out through the door turning around to close it while I went towards her and placed my shoes next to the doorframe neatly, she paused and held it open.
"Need anything before I prepare for rest myself?"
"A glass of water if you wouldn't mind." She nodded and finally closed the door.
The smile present on my face faded away shortly after as I immediately walked back to the bed and picked up the phone next to it, quickly entering the number I had in mind.
It rung only for a moment before a woman's voice answered, "Operator, how can I help you."
"This is Naval Commander Alex Munroe looking to speak with Admiral William Ferguson."
"Please hold."
The line went silent as she rung him up to see if he was willing to take a call and checking to see if my credentials checked out, she picked back up the line and answered, "The admiral is willing to talk with you." before connecting the two calls.
"Al!"
I nearly dropped the phone as William's voice shrieked in the speaker sending a small ping echoing in my head and I slowly raised it back to my ear before placing it back on it upon finding that he had corrected the volume he spoke at.
"Al, it's been to long. I haven't seen or heard from you since that meeting we hosted last month. How are you! How have you been?!"
"I've been good. Things have been a bit hectic as of late but we've been dealing with it. How have you been, Will?"
"Ahh, bored out of my mind. Almost regret getting this position, it places you so far away from the action. Commander, now there was a spot fit for a man like me. Say, you looking to trade."
"You know that's not how it works," I said with a small smile, "but anyways William I wanted to-"
"Alright, what is it?" He interrupted.
"What is what?"
"The only times you call me William is either when we're in a meeting or you've got something serious going on."
I paused for a moment, "Well... You're... You're not wrong."
"Well come one then, out with it."
I thought for a minute on how I should put it, "Well. You know the story about the Ourang Medan, the one with a ship going missing and all it's crew dying in fear."
"Of course, I can't get away from it. It always rears its head every Halloween and we always are left busy dealing with the repercussions."
"Well, it's... not exactly a story anymore."
"...How do you mean."
I breathed in and said carefully into the phone: "... We recently picked up a new ship girl we found lost at sea. A Victory ship. Said her name was the VC2-S-AP1 Ourang Medan."
The call went silent yet again but it wasn't because the call disconnected since I could still hear him breathing quietly on the other end, it having picked up a little bit in pace.
"William, are you... are you still there?"
"Are you sure."
"What?" I was a bit shocked at how serious his tone had become that I didn't know how to react.
"Are you sure that it's the Ourang Medan and not some other ship. Like, completely sure?!"
"Y-Yes. Yes, I'm sure. I saw her ship myself, it was completely coated in rust and was falling apart at the seems. I even saw a corpse hanging from a lifeboat."
He went quiet yet again and I could hear him stand up from a chair.
"William?"
"Thank you for calling, Alex. Goodnight."
"Wait, Will-"
The receiver went dead and a dial tone replaced the voice of the man I had just been speaking to which left me confused and feeling probably very much like the man from this morning.
That was... weird. William had never talked to me like that before, and he sounded nervous too after I had told him about her.
I could hear Belfast returning so I quickly placed the phone back on it's stand just as she opened the door, she came in and placed the glass on the desk and bugged me over the fact that I was still in my normal clothing and had not made any progress from the moment she left.
I laughed her off to hide my concern from the conversation and wished her goodnight, waiting until after she left to truly get ready for bed, the phone call on my mind the whole time.
And as I drank down the water and turned the lights off, I came to the decision that I would into it a little further as there was clearly more to this thing than I knew about before nodding off to sleep.
It wasn't until after I slammed down the phone and ended the call that I realized how suspicious I had made myself seem and I held my face in my hand in regret for but a short moment.
Obviously, Alex was going to start investigating into matters, with how I acted I would have done the same were I in his position, so I rushed over to the bookshelf in the corner to warn them.
Upon reaching a panel with the sconce I reached for it and pulled it to the left, the panel popping open to reveal a black telephone with no markings or buttons.
I picked up the handset and waited for them to pick up, it only took a couple of seconds before a multi-layered voice answered, "Do you have something you wish to report?"
"He knows, Alex knows."
"What does he know."
"He knows that it's real, he called me asking about it."
"Does he know about our... involvement?"
"No. I don't think he does, but he said that he had it docked in his harbor and they were talking to the new ship girl it belonged to, gave a description and everything."
The voice was silent for a minute, other strange sounds and noises happening on the other end before it answered, "...This is very... Interesting."
"Well?!"
"It would appear that we have a new player in the game. We still have the original so don't worry, it's unlikely that she will have any knowledge of our plans."
"Then, what do we do?"
"Nothing... my dear." The voice answered slowly, deepening in tone. "We shall do... Nothing."