"Just a maid passing by"
"A maid? What kind of joke is this?" Zuikaku asks, confused.
"She's dead serious" Prinz Eugen says before going into a coughing fit with how much damage she sustained. "She is the second ship of the Edinburgh class light cruisers- Belfast. She may look like a joke, but she's still a legendary warrior. Don't underestimate her"
"A pleasure to meet you again, Prinz Eugen of Iron Blood. Although, it would seem as though you have seen better days given your current condition" Belfast says.
"Indeed. Though I would've liked to settle old grudges far away from Iron Blood and Royal Navy" Eugen says.
"I have no objection to your proposal, but..." Enterprise suddenly perks up "I've got several contacts coming in due west of our position on my scanners, identity unknown"
Several ships could be seen sailing towards them "I must remind you that we would respond with all of our might" Belfast finishes.
"The main Royal Navy fleet" Enty remarks.
"Hm, I guess it's time to quit while we're ahead" Eugen says.
"The next time we meet you better take us seriously!" Yells Z23 before walking away in anger.
Ayanami was about to follow, but not before looking back to see Laffey waving goodbye "Bye bye, see you"
With that, the opposing fleet retreats from the battlefield. Suddenly, Enty faints from exhaustion with Belfast catching her "Is something wrong?" Asks Belfast, with no response.
Enterprise floats down from her elevated position and pulls out a medical scanner. She isn't impressed by the results "Well I'll be dammed, if bones were here he'd be giving her an earful when she wakes up. Exhaustion, malnutrition, fatigue, the list goes on. I'm surprised she was even fighting in the first place" She remarks in a serious tone. "Here, let me take her. I'll get her fixed up" She says, offering to take Enterprise. Belfast agrees and hands her over before the fleet makes their way back to base.
Enty wakes up but not in the familiar sight of her room. The bed was not hers and the room itself was of a completely alien design. She was about to get up when she heard a door open and a familiar voice greeting her "You're finally awake! You had us worried for a second back there" She turned her head to be greeted by her "doppelganger" taking a seat next to her bed.
"Where am I? What did you do with the others!? What-" Enty started getting aggressive when she felt herself going limp. Enterprise sighed "I always hate doing that" What she had done is target Enty's pressure point which was something she inherited from Spock- being able to target pressure points and since the KANSEN were human in appearance, she assumed and was correct, that they had the same pressure points as normal humans but the effects weren't the same.
"What did you do to me?" Enty asked.
"I targeted your pressure point in order to incapacitate you due to your increasingly agitated behavior but it would seem as though the only effect is temporary paralysis" Enterprise explained, Enty being able to move her limbs shortly after. "As for your friends and comrades, they are completely fine. They are rebuilding the base as we speak. As for you, you are in the depository or sickbay of my ship. Speaking of which, do you have any idea how poor in health you were?!" Enterprise scolded. "Clear lack of essential vitamins and minerals, both combat fatigue and sleep deprivation, and don't get me started on diet! You, ma'am, are going to be on a prescription diet and are going to be given vitamin and mineral supplements until you fully recover!" She further scolds, going around the cabinets to get the appropriate supplements.
"Injury is a common occurrence in war, there is no need to worry so much for my health" Enty says in a monotone voice.
"Injury indeed is a common occurrence but it is my duty and responsibility as this ship's doctor to make sure that everyone is in top shape. I may not be a repair ship, but christ on a stick your ship is on the verge of being considered to be sold for scrap! Missing superstructure, giant holes in the flight deck and don't get me started on the engines-" As Enterprise rambles on about how bad Enty treats herself, Enty couldn't help but think that she is going to have a Vestal Two on her hands. Speaking of Vestal...
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Vestal sneezes "Ah, excuse me. Is somebody talking about me? It better not be somebody scolding Enterprise by telling her that they'll tell me how reckless she's being.... ah, it's probably just me being protective of her" She continues on her way to the base.
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In a car on the way to the Royal Navy dorms, Illustrious and Wales are having a conversation about their current situation.
"She saved not just the base, but Hornet's fleet as well" Says Wales "No doubt she's extremely powerful... but then there's the prospect of our new guest. Her power has demonstrated that she is probably more powerful than the Grey Ghost herself easily wiping out most of the Sakura Empire's fighters and mass produced ships"
"But our bad expectations were met as well" Says Illustrious "If Belfast hadn't intervened, who knows what would've happened..."
"Are you concerned about her?" Asks Wales.
Illustrious nods "She saved us all from certain defeat. But not all the credit goes to Enterprise alone, no. The other one who appeared first deserves recognition as well. She saved Unicorn and for that I am thankful. But I am getting off topic... Enterprise, she might ground down over the course of this war. I do not wish to see that come to light."
Wales nods "Perhaps we should have a word with Her Majesty"
In the Royal garden, we see group of Royal Navy ships having tea. Queen Elizabeth, the leader of the Royal Navy, takes a sip of her tea "I understand what you have come to tell me" She says as she eats "But isn't that an issue for the Eagle Union?"
"For Enterprise, yes your Majesty. But the new ship does not belong to any known faction" Says Illustrious.
"Oh? Do tell me what this new ship is?" Queen Elizabeth asks.
"I believe it's the one floating over the harbor, your Majesty" Hood says "Speaking of which, where is lady Enterprise?"
"From what I was told, she was handed over to the new ship by Belfast. It has been a while since then, but from what I've gathered, she means no harm" Says Illustrious "Perhaps it is a miracle of the Holy Light that has blessed us with her arrival"
"Again with that Holy Light talk?" Says Warspite, clearly having heard this multiple times before.
"Even if viewed as just a fighting force, Enterprise is a key factor for this base. But the addition of this new ship has increased this base's value possibly tenfold" Says Wales.
Queen Elizabeth thinks for a moment before coming up with an answer "I shall be the judge of that" She says.
"She has agreed to showcase her abilities before the attack, I belive now is the perfect time to set up the test" Says Wales.
Queen Elizabeth agrees wholeheartedly "Let's see what kind of ship this new guest really is"
At the port, we see Vestal arriving with Hornet and Hamman greeting her.
"Vestal!" Hornet said with glee "Finally, a repair ship arrived!" She said as she hugged Vestal tightly "I'm so relieved..."
Vestal laughs awkwardly "Sorry for being so late"
"How's Yorktown doing, Vestal?" Asks Hamman.
Vestal's mood grows solemn "She's..."
"As usual, I guess!" Hornet interdicts.
"So... how is Enterprise doing?" Vestal asks, trying to brighten the mood.
"Oh sis? She's doing greaaat! Yeah definitely most positively great! As a matter of fact, I saw her drinking her favorite coffee earlier!" Hornet says, sweating bullets as well as Hamman sweating nervously while stealing glances at Enterprise's ship.
Vestal grows a menacing Aura around her despite giving a "sweet" smile "Hornet... where's Enterprise?"
Hornet was about to answer when a pair of bright yellow lights flashed behind them. The lights dissipated to reveal Enterprise and what seemed to be an identical counterpart. The counterpart seemed to be talking to her.
"Now then, I recommend plenty of rest and a proper diet along with supplements after each meal to make up for lost vitamins and minerals" The counterpart said with a voice resembling that of Enterprise "Now then, now we need to focus on-" She was about to continue when she noticed the trio looking at them "Oh, hello there! Good to see you both doing alright Hornet and Hamman. And you are?"
"I am the Eagle Union repair ship Vestal, and it is my duty to look after the Yorktown sisters as their personal doctor" Vestal introduced herself "Say, you look a lot like Enterprise. Might I know why?"
"Uhhh yeahhh about that, Vestal..." Hornet said while smiling awkwardly, scratching the back of her head.
The woman giggled "Well since you're so nice, I might as well introduce myself. I'm USS Enterprise of the Constitution-class cruisers. For clarification, my ship identification doesn't mean I belong to the Eagle Union"
Vestal was dumbfounded, which she clearly expressed "... I've never heard of a new class of cruisers being developed, can you point to your ship?" Vestal asked. The only answer she got was Enterprise pointing upwards. She looked up only for her jaw to drop. The ship was alien in design, pure white, and seemed to not follow any ship building doctrine known.
"We pretty much had the same reaction. Not like it's incredible or anything but it's impressive to say the least" Says Hamman.
Hornet couldn't help but chuckle at Vestal's reaction before a question would surface "Hey, what was that bright light anyways? One second there's nothing and the next 'bam'! You're there!"
"Transporters" Enterprise said simply. She then remembered something "Oh right! Whale said that I needed to do a test thing and I just remembered I need to go to the testing ground right now!" She said in a hurried tone. Enty snickered while Hornet burst out in laughter at the mispronounciation of Wales' name.
"You meant Wales right?" Enty asked, trying her best to remain stoic.
"Ohh... yeah, I meant Wales" Enterprise said, embarrassed "A-anyways, let's go now, shall we?"
At the exercise area, everyone was spectating and waiting to see what this new ship had at their disposal. On the water, we could see Wales, Cleveland, and Enterprise.
"Alright so for tests we're just gonna see your speed and weapon capabilities. We're a bit tight on resources so we're just gonna be using dummy targets for this" Says Cleveland.
"Affirm" Said Enterprise. She had activated her rigging beforehand as was ready for the tests "So mobility first right?"
"Correct, we need to determine your speed to determine what position you will take in the fleet, that being the backline or the vanguard as well as seeing if you have any special abilities" Said Wales.
Enterprise nodded. On her way to the exercise area, she noticed that several KANSEN had what resembled 21st century mobile devices despite it being the 20th century. She summed it up to the massive advances in technology that happens during wartime with rigging in itself being a kind of exoskeleton which is very advanced.
Now though, it was time for the tests. First was the weapons test.
"For record's sake can you tell us your weaponry, Enterprise?" Wales asks.
"I have a complement of a dozen or so phaser banks and Photon torpedo launchers. Anything other than that is classified under the Prime Directive which is looking more like the Prime Suggestion at this point" Enterprise states.
"Alriiightyyyy uhh, ignoring that past part, please use your qeapons on the dummy ships present before you at 300 to 1000 meters respectively" Said Cleveland.
Enterprise nodded releasing a flurry of Phaser fire at the closest target "Phasers operating at 100 percent capacity" She states before aiming at the farther target. "Firing Photon torpedoes" She says before releasing a duo of Photon torpedoes downrange. The resulting damage from the weapons demonstration would leave the spectators with their Jaws dropped. The first dummy ship was virtually filled with red hot holes due to the Phasers and the later target... let's just say it's seen better days.
Wales recovers from her stupor first "Alright then, on with abities. Let me explain, each of us has a ability that makes us unique in a sense. For example, Formidable's ability to stop time temporarily or Unicorn's ability to turn her plush into a full blown alicorn. The purpose of this test is to determine what ability you have" She explains.
Enterprise nods "I believe I do have an ability. Just cover your eyes for a moment" After she says this, she begins to glow a bright blue which forces everyone to cover their eyes for a moment. When the light dies down, everyone is surprised to see two nearly identical twins in the place of Enterprise. The first twin, the one with the pointed ears, her constant calculating look, and her data pad, greets everyone first "Greetings, in case you are wondering, you are indeed looking at the Enterprise you know. The reason why we possess this ability is for emergency purposes. You see, the Saucer half of the ship, which contains most of the crew quarters, is able to separate from the engineering block which consists of the main body and engine nacelles. For the sake of identification, you may call me S which stands for Saucer. My other half, you may call her E which stands for Engineering" She says in a calculated tone.
The other twin, being E, is identical in appearance but lacks the pointed ears of her counterpart. The energy she gives off already says that she and Cleveland may get along real well in the future "Sup! The name's E and as my twin already told ya, I represent the Engineering half of the ship! And I heard that the next test is the mobility test. Tell ya what, I can do that test right here, right now" She says, floating in a carefree posture.
"Very well then, we just need to measure how fast you are and that is that" Wales says.
"Mhm... gotcha... say you said one of our enemies right now is Iron Blood right?" E asks.
"Yeah, you're right. Watcha asking for?" Cleveland says.
E only smiles smugly as she turns around, a hollow charging sound being heard. S realizes what she's doing too late though "No E what are-" Before she could finish, E had disappeared leaving behind two light blue contrails. She sighed.
"Erm... Ms S, where did she go?" Cleveland asks confused.
"She warped away and if I am to guess she shall return in a minute at the least" She answered.
Lo and behold a minute later, E returned just as quickly as she had departed while giggling like a madwoman.
"E, what did you do?" S asked seriously, looking ready to scold her twin.
"Aww cmon! It was just a little short trip! And you would not believe what I did while I was in Iron Blood!" She said enthusiastically.
Everyone who heard her remark felt their hearts sink. E pulled out a data pad. It showed a video of her arriving in the main Iron Blood port at night, waltzing into the port bar, and straight up full force smacking a certain blonde battleship in the ass before fleeing out of there laughing like a maniac.
Cleveland and Wales saw this video and they had two completely different reactions. Wales was beyond mortified of someone committing such an act while Cleveland had a shit-eating grin while laughing aloud.
"Well I think she's proven herself more than enough dontcha think, Wales?" Cleveland said.
"Yes yes I believe so. Alright, that concludes our tests, everyone may return to their business" Wales said, trying to wipe the blush off her face. The twins recombined into Enterprise proper and she walked off with a confident grin on her face.
Later that day, she was feeling hungry so she went to the cafeteria. It was quite big on the interior when she entered it. She made her way to the lunch window where she met Nevada.
"Howdy there! Gotta say, never expected ya to go to Iron Blood and just do whatever you wanted. Got a decent laugh out of all of us. Anyway, what would ya like to eat?" Nevada asked.
"Hmm... feeling like I could go for a classic. How about a cheeseburger" Enterprise said.
"Alright, coming right up!" Said Nevada. Enterprise didn't have to wait long to recieve her food which she swore was on par with the speed of her replicators. She walked to find a seat when she saw Cleveland sitting with Hornet waving at her. She walked over and sat down with them.
"Yknow, I never expected you to just go to Iron Bloods main port of all places and smack Bismarck's ass! In public too! Ohhh boy she's gonna want your head on a silver platter lemme tell ya" Said Hornet before giggling a bit more.
"None of us did, really. I swore I could see Hood covering her mouth, but behind that I bet she was trying to hold in her laugh like no tomorrow I tell ya" Says Cleveland.
"Hehe... well I didn't really do that but then that would be me being hypocritical. So I guess you could say that I was feeling a bit mischievous" Enterprise said while eating her cheeseburger.
Across from them they could see Enty sitting down with Belfast standing next to her. In front of Enty was a plate of standard American or Eagle Union in case breakfast.
"I'm glad she is making progress on getting onto a balanced diet. I swear I lectured her for who knows how long on eating a balanced meal" Enterprise said.
"Mhm, definitely a step forward" Said Hornet "She wasn't always like this. Ever since Yorktown got injured and got bedridden, she's been acting like this ever since" Hornet said solemnly "But someone like you and Belfast looking after her like this, you both have my upmost thanks for that"
"Nobody should be like this just because their loved one got injured. Sure they can feel worried whether they will be okay or not but to go on almost suicidal missions is not an appropriate coping mechanism" Enterprise said "I know that feeling... I have a sister. An older one as well"
"Really?" Cleveland asked "How is she?"
Enterprise looked down for a second, trying her best to remember her older sister, Constitution.
"She's the best sis I could ask for really" she said with a smile, albeit hinting a subtle sadness to it.
"Anyways, I belive i have to check in with Wales for something. Good talk" She said, waving goodbye to the two. Before she left, she walked by Enty's table "Remember to tale your supplements, Enty" She said before exiting the cafeteria. Those who took a peek could see Enty pouting before resuming her meal.
At the office, we can see Enterprise entering with Wales noticing her.
"Ah, Enterprise. I belive you are here on the prospect of a dorm to stay in?" She asked.
Enterprise nodded "Staying on my ship is fine but eventually I'll get tired of beaming myself up and down day in and day out. So yeah, I'd like to see if there are any dorms available" She said.
"You are in luck! We have a free Eagle Union dorm at the moment. Here are the keys" She said as she handed over the keys. Enterprise was about to exit the office when Wales spoke "Thank you for everything you've done thus far for us"
Enterprise stopped and looked back at Wales. She wanted to be humble and say 'it wasn't much really', but she tossed that thought aside and smiled before heading out to her new dorm.
She opened the door to her dorm and looked inside. It wasn't anything fancy, it looked more like a hotel room from the 40's more than anything but it would do. She closed the door behind her and laud down in bed. She decided that she would take a nap. The day's stress has finally caught up and made her tired as hell. But before she could forget, she remembered to make a captain's log.
"Captain's log, stardate... unknown. If anyone finds this, I would prefer it to be you of all people, Kirk. I have found myself in an alternate universe of sorts and before you ask yourself if you're insane, yes you are hearing a female voice. That female voice being the very ship you are in command of. Crazy, I know but this universe has many others like I am now but instead are ships from Earth's old wars. Hell even my predecessor, CV-6 is here. Yep, the Grey Ghost herself. Heh... now that I think about it this is more of a ship's log than a Captain's log because the ship itself is making the log. Kinda funny. Anyways, I don't wish to overload you with information when you find this log so I'll be releasing information gradually over the following logs and information about this place will be recorded in my databanks. I have a hope that I will find my way back to Starfleet and see you guys again. But until then, I guess I'll just have to do what I can for everyone here. Might sound like a violation of the Prime Directive but, between you and I, what's that done to stop us from doing the right thing?"
"Enterprise out, end log"
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Wooo yippee another chapter out! To be honest with you all, I can't wait to get to the later chapters and get into all the action packed scenes with sprinkles of Star Trek references throughout as well as Enty finding out that her future successor is more than what she lets on.
Anyways, until next time gentlemen and fellow trekkies. And remember, Live Long and Prosper.