General POV
In the Philippines a little Frigate was getting ready for deployment in Naval Operating Base Subic. World War 3 had just started after China finally attempted to invade Taiwan. The Frigate's crew were fresh and international and among them....was Andy Yan.....or me, I had been drafter a month prior but was new to this exact ship, only being assigned 2 weeks ago.
The ship's old CO had retired so an American CO was to stand in until a permanent one could be sourced which would take about 3 trips. My cabin was all sorted and my stuff was just the bare minimum, I was wearing dress whites as we had yet to depart, I then heard a knock on my door.
Me: "Come in." I said.
The door opened to the Ship's XO who is a friend of mine.
Laurien: "Morning Andy, just wanted to check on ya." she said in Filipino
Me: "I'm fine Laurien." I said, slightly struggling with my words.
Laurien smiled and nodded before continuing.
Laurien: "Our American CO is coming in a few mikes, get your ass to the bridge." she said now in English.
Me: "I'm coming." I said, putting up a printed out photo of me and my family on my desk before walking out.
I made it to the bridge and took up my station behind the wheel as the American CO walked into the bridge.
Me: "Attention on deck!" I yelled.
The entire bridge straightened up as a familiar face walked in.
Alex aka dieHero: "Thanks kid, at ease." he said, as everyone relaxed a little, "I am your CO, Alex Orr, now I may be your captain but I will treat you all like friends and family. Any questions?"
Me: "Um, sir?" I said.
Alex: "Yes?" he said, "Name and position sailor."
Me: "Francis Andre B Yan, Quartermaster; you just remind me of someone I know." I said.
Alex looked puzzled at this and started racking his memory before looking up at me again.
Alex: "Yeah...strangely I think I've heard your name before...." he said, unsure.
The bridge fell silent, thinking the 2 of us were rivals or something...until Alex snaped his fingers and pointed at me.
Alex: "kuwebby2?" he asked.
Me: "Holy crap, dieHero?!" I yelled.
We both then gave each other a bro-hug while laughing like old friends.
Me: "What the heck are you doing here?" I asked.
Alex: "What am I doing here? What're you? Aren't you like 15?" he asked.
But before anything else could be said Laurien fake coughed to get our attention back.
Laurien: "Well this is great and all but we have to get going soon." she said.
Me: "Right, let's catch up on the way to Pearl." I offered.
Alex: "Sure." he said.
We fistbumped before I got back to my station and Alex went into CO mode. He made his way to an internal communications phone and picked it up before hailing the person on the other end
Alex: "Pre-departure checklist?" he asked
Chief Engineer: "Engine room is reporting green light for departure." she said.
Master Chief: "CIC reports all guns are on standby and have full ammo racks." he said.
TAO: "Helo has been inspected, it's good for departure." he said.
Laurien: "Culinary Officers are reporting we've got enough provisions for a month and a half." she said.
Alex: "Alright, bring her to sea helmsman." he ordered, "All ahead slow, bearing 1-4-0."
Me: "All ahead slow, bearing 1-4-0 aye." I repeated, nodding.
The little Frigate slowly revved up and made its way out of Subic with families and friends waving and fanfare playing as the Frigate slowly sailed away, when it exited the mouth of the bay and passed Grande Island Alex gave me new course orders.
Alex: "Helmsman." he said.
Me: "Sir?" I responded
Alex: "Set engines Ahead Half continue on bearing 1-4-0 for 0-4-8 miles." he ordered.
Me: "All Ahead Half, continue on bearing 1-4-0 for 0-4-8 miles, aye sir." I said.
The Frigate slowly sped up in the deeper waters. As it began it's voyage to Japan.
The ship took the long way 'round to avoid detection, going south of Luzon, through the middle of the Archipelago that was the Philippines, through Surigao Strait, and once clear the ship turned North to Japan to meet up with our fellow escorts before sailing across the Pacific to pick up the convoy.
This voyage still took less than a day but as the Frigate sailed out in open waters the air became awkward as the crew didn't have much to do. I decided to try and have a conversation with Alex to lighten up the mood.
Me: "So.....uh....Alex?" I asked.
Alex: "Yeah?" he responded.
Me: "How's your girl?" I continued.
Alex: "Oh! She's cool, lil bummed I got demoted." he said.
Laurien: "Demoted to CO?" she asked, "That doesn't sound right."
Alex: "I was a reckless pilot so to teach me sense I was given command of a Frigate." he stated.
Me: "Hold on....weren't you the guy who buzzed the Ronald Reagan a few weeks ago?" I asked.
About 3 weeks prior to this deployment, I had been helping on the Ronald Reagan as Air Boss for about 2 days while the actual Air Boss was reported sick. I was helping organize an ASW exercise when a CAP pilot radioed in.
War Monger(Yes that's his callsign I made up, shut it): "Tower, this is Eagle 1, requesting to buzz the tower." he radioed in.
I scanned the schedule and saw that Eagle 1 was coming in to land, so I radioed him.
Me: "Eagle 1, this is tower, permission denied," I started, "we have an ASW exercise on the catapults, go into a holding pattern for now, over."
Destiny(Yes, that is Doc's callsign shut it): "Copy tower.
I switched over to the ASW aircraft who were about to go, suddenly a 2-seater F/A-18 Super Hornet proceeded to buzz the tower, I don't usually need to drink anything on the job so I was just lightly startled.
Me: "War Monger you son of a bitch." I cussed over the radio.
All I heard back was him and his WSO laughing.
Alex: "Wait.....that was you?!" he yelled, laughing.
Me: "Yes Alex, thankfully for you I didn't have any coffee on me." I said, "Also, what about Doc?"
Alex: "He should be somewhere on this ship." he stated.
I nodded, excited to see Doc in real life. The rest of the voyage passed uneventfully and the Frigate proceeded into Yokosuka without incident and docked with JS Maya, USS Kidd, and HMS Diamond who were all going to be part of the escort group alongside BRP Antonio Luna.
Diamond CO: "This is Gemstone to War Hero, come in War Hero." they hailed.
Alex: "War Hero to Gemstone, go ahead." he replied.
'Gemstone': "War Hero you are our Southern Flank, Pirate is our flagship for this voyage." he said.
Kidd CO: "Morning War Hero." she said.
Alex: "Copy all, what's our meet-up point with the convoy?" he asked, "I haven't been told of that part yet."
'Pirate': "We're meeting this convoy at Pearl Harbor." she said, "We'll pick them up and escort them back here where a JMSDF force will pick up after us."
Maya CO: "Then we help the empty convoy back to the US." he said.
'Gemstone': "That's Payment(Get it? Cause 'Maya' is the name of a payment service? Eh?.....I'll shut up now-)." he said, "Don't be too harsh on him though, he's a little new to English."
After a bit of idle conversation the squad of warships sailed off towards the US of A, for their first and most eventful convoy run.
A/N: And off we go on another journey! This time it'll start really realistic and after all the prologues are out the Azur Lane stuff will begin. Of course dH and Doc are gonna post their chapters soon enough. I shan't say much more, NotaChild4, give us some comments and ideas for this new book, we might need it after the 3 or 4 prologues I have planned. Check out dieHero (the Military Specialist/CO), DrDestiny (the Memelord/Medical Officer), and 007weeb (dH's girl) for more stories. I'm kuwebby2 (the realistic guy/Helmsman), signing off for now.
Bonus:
Little story:
So, I was out and about with my family for a trip today, I was on the highway heading to where I'm at right now, when my dad was passed by this new Prius, it looked pretty good especially against the design a few years ago so me and dad got talking about EV's and how the Philippines has finally found a way to legalize EV's on main roads, suddenly this R35 Nismo GTR passed us so I obviously went 'Ooh! A GTR.' so my dad then stated 'Ok, I like that one better.' so I burst out laughing.
Completely unrelated but later down the road these 2 stupid-ass buses proceeded to cross 3 lines of traffic, today was pretty cool.