Chapter Text
March 1st, 2027, 9:30 AM, Base, Commander’s Office
An aging man is seen working bits of work at his desk, signing documents and viewing reports. Adrian Armstrong had been working as commander of Azur Lane for almost a decade now, and yet the amount of paperwork was still the most surprising thing about this whole operation. Just what the hell kind of place has almost thirty times more paperwork than any normal military base? Although he minded the amount at the start of his career, he has grown, unfortunately, accustomed to the demon that was paperwork. A request from the laboratory to continue one of Akashi’s abominable experiments, a supply ship coming in at 9:40, Northern Parliament having half of their budget going towards vodka; all that fun stuff.
Just a few more days of this, and I’ll be a free man , Armstrong thought to himself. Just as he finished his inner comment, his office door opened, revealing it to be his secretary with two cups of coffee in her hands, along with what appeared to be a present under her arm.
“Good morning, Commander," his secretary said, a warm expression plastered on her face as she set the coffees down on his desk. She soon sat across from him taking one of the cups.
“Mornin’, Brook," Armstrong replied back, taking the other cup and bringing it close to his nose, smelling the aroma within. “Mainz made this batch, didn’t she?”
“You’d be correct, Sir," Brooklyn answered, soon taking a drink from her cup. “That girl knows her stuff.”
“Indeed. It’s a shame I won’t be able to enjoy it for much longer," Armstrong somberly said, casting his gaze out towards a window to the side of his office. Outside, various ship-girls can be seen strolling out and about, attending to their needs.
“We will miss you, Sir," Brooklyn said, breaking his gaze from the window, back to her. “But you’ve earned this retirement for all of your endless commitment to Azur Lane. And besides, it’s not like we still can’t communicate with you once you’ve left. I’m sure that the girls would love to send you some packages as a way that we will always remember you.”
Packages. That stuck in his mind for some reason. Until he remembered what else Brooklyn decided to bring with her this morning.
“Speaking of packages, what’s with the present in your hand?” Armstrong inquired.
“Hm?” Brooklyn responded back. A moment later, she remembered the present as well. “Oh! This. Yeah. Me and some of the other girls thought of a way for you to remember us. And after a lot of back-and-forward, we decided to give you this.” She then handed the present to him.
Receiving the present, Armstrong looked back at Brooklyn for reassurance that he could open it now. After a nod from her, he carefully undid the wrapping to find something that looked like a picture frame, albeit from the back. After setting aside the wrapping, he flipped the frame to the other side.
“Hey, I remember this moment!” he exclaimed. Inside the frame was a picture of him, Brooklyn, Seattle, Ryuuhou, Prinz Heinrich, Eagle, Victorious, Yat Sen, Gangut, and Foch all huddled around. Particularly of note was that Seattle, Heinrich, Gangut, and Foch were giving the man, as best it could be described as, a “family bear hug", with Armstrong in between the four. While they were doing that, the others were simply surrounding them with amused faces on them as they watched on.
“Man, I can’t believe this was three years ago. It felt like yesterday. Where’d you guys find this?” Armstrong asked, still looking down at the picture.
Brooklyn, for her part, had gotten out of her seat and stood next to him, wanting to admire the photo as well. “Aoba had taken a picture of the moment all that time ago. She wanted to use it, but found the picture with the leaders and representatives better for her stuff," She responded. “We were lucky she still had it in her memory when we asked her about it.”
“You guys are the best!" Armstrong proclaimed, standing up and bringing Brooklyn in for a hug, much to her surprise. Soon she reciprocated his gesture. After a few more moments, he released her from his grip, but still held onto her left shoulder. “Even though we’ll still be able to talk with each other, I’m still going to miss having you girls around me physically. Even if my body has started to ache due to the amount of surprise hugs people keep giving me, I’d still welcome it.”
“We’ll all miss that about your absence, Sir,” Brooklyn giggled out. “But once again, you’ve earned this retirement. And I’m pretty sure the misses would agree with us here.”
“Yeah, you're probably right,” Armstrong conceded. “Hopefully you girls will still have the same energy when the replacement gets here.”
“Speaking of that, do you know who will replace you?”
“I do, but that’s a secret for me to keep,” Armstrong said, with a smirk on his face, causing Brooklyn to slightly pout. “But I can promise you this, he has potential, and things probably won’t be that different once I leave.”
As he finished his comments, a nearby clock alerted the two that the time was now 10 AM.
“Shoot! We’ve been chatting for quite a while now, have we, Brook?”
“Seems so, shall we get back to work?”
“Yeah…” Armstrong replied, with a not-so subtle hint of defeat in his voice. “I know that I won’t miss this bastard any time soon,” shooting the venom to the paperwork on his desk.