Chapter Twelve

For a superweapon capable of destroying a small city, maintaining an entire fleet, and changing form nigh instantaneously within nanoseconds, Red Oak Victory was taking a long time to get ready, Alex decided.

Upon their arrival from New San Diego to the refurbished US Grant Hotel, the 'honored guests' had been given just enough time to settle into their temporary stay, relax, and prepare for the banquet. It was a relief to Alex that, as an active and high ranking naval officer, he could get away with wearing dress whites and not be scorned as a social outcast.

Alex never did enjoy parties, and he couldn't imagine what the life of a socialite Blue Bloods was like.

Red Oak was not so fortunate. From what he could tell, his current (and semi-official) XO of the supply fleet didn't care for any social gatherings, Fog or human. As long as she had a project (or a dog) to care for, and things weren't falling apart, she could spend hours alone.

It was just then that the Fog supply ship opened the door to her room, so Alex forced his musings aside and stood up…

...only to feel his jaw drop at the sight.

Red Oak stepped out with a waltzing grace she hadn't shown before. Indeed, Alex could recall nothing but laid back behavior from his supply ship. The movements were enhanced by the flowing cobalt dress, which was modest yet well fitted. Lastly, she bore a single pendant bearing her sigil (Two interlocking triangles pointing North and Northwest, centered by a dot), and tied her metallic grey hair into a high and tight bun. Her hair, in the same fashion as her dress, was embezzled with small diamonds

Not one to ignore beauty when he saw it, the Admiral couldn't help but stare. His quip about her taking so much time suddenly felt inappropriate, despite the idea that she could change her appearance instantly, so he dropped it.

With sparkling eyes, she stared back. "Will this do?" Her words were laced with sarcasm and veiled amusement, but Alex couldn't help but grin.

"Why... yes, it certainly will."

Stepping up to her, the duo linked arms and strode to the ballroom threshold. Doormen greeted them with a bow, and the massive cherrywood doors swung open.

The first thing to greet them was music, followed by the sight of dozens of people dancing erratically. In the corner was a brass band, and it was after a moment that Alex realized.

By the Code...they're dancing the Charleston!

With music revertebrating nicely through the massive dance hall, the band played to the syncopated rhythm. The dance floor was densely packed as energetic dancers moved and hopped, though other clusters of guests mingled, sipping wine while gossiping.

Next to him, 'Rosie' gazed at the spectacle in her own sense of diluted wonder, before turning to him. "It seems, Admiral, that they know how to party. But..."

Whatever she was going to say, she cut off. The repair ship's normally passive expression was locked in a scowl. When Alex followed her gaze, he had to fight from matching her look.

The members of the Homeland Committee of Anti-Fog clustered like opulent eyesores, ruining the otherwise cheerful scene, sharing wine and cigars; Eric Strang, Vasily Rachminoff, and the various other members of The Committee. Unlike the rest of the room, there was plenty of space around them. Alex would have liked to think it was the ring of passive men in black suits- earbuds and concealed submachine guns leaving no doubt as to what they were.

At least Lieutenant Herder was there as well, though he beckoned Alex with a wave.

Obliging, Alex led Red Oak down a small staircase, through the pockets of dancers, waitresses and tables, to the other side of the room.

"Admiral Kraus, I'm so glad you could make it!" Herder exclaimed, pulling Alex into a handshake. "Come, you must sit with us, the main event is about to begin!"

Alex, grinning in response, absentmindedly pulled out one of the chairs out for Red Oak before taking the other seat.

For several minutes, the Fog duo passed the time by small talking with the others around him. Alex also made sure to retrieve glasses of wine from a passing butler. He had a feeling he was going to need it, though he didn't deactivate his alcohol resistance.

Although he tried not to be the center of attention, Herder quite easily pulled him into conversations. Soon, he was regaling with them the many stories that he experienced at sea; much to the surprise of HCAF's members, "No, we never attempted to engage direct conflict with a Fog warship, though their versions of PT boats were simple enough for even an Arleigh Burke to kill, with the modified 5" and 6" guns we had installed, to make up for the poor missile tracking performance of SPY-1s."

Alex neglected to mention that, indeed, the humans never initiated battle once they figured out that the Fog had no interest in wiping out the inter-island supply lines. Considering that his audience were extremely powerful Hardline Fog haters, they would be more than happy to label the survivors of Hawaii as 'traitors', should it politically suit their needs.

Soon, though, the band halted. The dance floor cleared quickly, taking the queue to find seats.

Once the crowd of party goers was seated, an aging man with a salt-flecked beard and hair took to the podium. "Thank you all for attending. I am Jonathan Frost and I will be your Master of Ceremonies for today."

"Firstly," he began as the applause died down, "it is my honor and pleasure to introduce the newly promoted Rear Admiral, Alexander Kraus of Hawaii!"

Frost gestured, and Alex stood up in the applause of hundreds of people. At that moment, he was the center of attention for the party goers...and a handful of reporters, who enthusiastically made their presence known with bright camera flashes.

Strangely enough, there were disklike drones hovering above him, also trying to get good shots with their own cameras.

'Something we definitely didn't have in Hawaii.'

Frost cleared his throat, and the clamor died down. "Not too long ago, Admiral Alexander Kraus, a brave officer and defender of the Hawaiian Islands, fought through hell and back to personally deliver salvation to us; a superweapon capable of destroying Fog ships with ease!"

He clapped his white-gloved hands, and the lighting darkened a bit. Behind the spokesman, a ghostly blue hologram flickered on- similar, Alex noted, to the technology that HAZE, his mysterious 'benefactor', had used. It was a rotating image of the Vibration Warhead, dissected into basic parts to show off its concept, as well as basic specifications.

What followed were gasps, then an uproar of whispers and even more intense photography flashes. Evidently, the Vibration Warhead was still secret business, and the Committee had chosen to leak it this night.

'No doubt, they'd become more popular with this...securing of hope.'

Never mind that any mention of the Japanese- let alone the designer, Maki- was nonexistent. It was also a struggle for him not to stand up and quote Bane.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, I know that it's quite exciting to know that as of tonight, we citizens of the great and marvelous United States finally have a chance." Frost exclaimed, raising a fist above his head with fervor. "A chance to strike back against the Fog and reclaim what is ours!"

Alex spared a glance at Red Oak, who was gazing into her wine. Her face was blank, and she wasn't actively connected to the JTN, so he couldn't tell what she was thinking.

"Indeed, in celebration of Admiral Kraus' safe arrival with the Vibration Warhead, our friends of the Navy and the Homeland Committee of Anti-Fog Affairs have launched a highly successful test launch of our new weaponry. So, feast your eyes upon our recent victory, which is but the first of many, for the Committee expects to begin the offensive to return our oceans to us, very soon!"

The hologram became a screen of footage, showing highlights of the earlier weapons test. Part of the display were shots of the Arleigh Burkes firing their weapons, along with the stoic faces of the Command Center staff, the LRASM III's successful launch, and the destruction of Melvin in all its terrifyingly brutal detail. Prerecorded patriotic music played in the background, even as the Fog destroyer imploded.

At the end of the presentation, the crowd of partygoers roared and applauded in approval.

Still, Alex couldn't help the twinge of annoyance running through his emotion module. Red Oak's timely intervention against Melvin's retaliatory strike was left out completely, as well as Red Oak's presence in the Command Center. With a glance to his temporary secretary ship, he shook his head and sighed.

It wasn't worth fighting the Committee over this, not when they had the full approval of the house.

Before returning to his seat, Frost held his arms broadly and exclaimed, "Now, before our night begins to close, we invite everyone to dance one last time. Good night to you all!"

Mildly impressed by the man's theatrics, Alex nudged Red Oak. "You'd probably like to get away from all this attention as soon as it is polite, right?"

As if brought out of a daze, the Fog model tilted her head, "And this isn't an excuse for you to escape them? You're the hero of the day, after all."

Alex couldn't help but wince. She was hiding it well, but Red Oak was upset, possibly feeling dejected. He nodded, getting to his feet with his hand out. "Well, let's retire for the-"

The applause died down, replaced by trilling notes of musical instruments. Soon, the entire room was up and dancing in pairs. The slow but steady notes of a waltz drifted across the room.

(EN:The song is "Over the Waves" composed by Juventino Rosas)

"Rosie?" He looked back at the Victory ship, who hadn't moved from her seat. Her expression was odd, though Alex couldn't place it. She swept a gloved hand through her hair to behind her ear, looking down at the floor.

"Admiral," she finally spoke, "I wish to try dancing."

Before her Admiral could protest, she stood and took his hand, quickly guiding him away to the dance floor. Her lips tugged into a smile. She placed his hands on her hips and her own onto his shoulders.

Then with perfect timing, the music surged into the waltz.

Though Red Oak had always found ways to surprise him, nothing caught him more off guard than her sudden grace of movement. 'This isn't the woman wearing greased coveralls,' he thought. 'Who is this, and where did Red Oak go?'

'Still…'

Before he could contemplate further, rhythmic music, the elegant mood, and sparkling eyes of Red Oak pulled him into a trance. Spinning, squaring, moving with the other dancers, the pair found themselves in the center of it all.

Red Oak smiled. Alex smiled back. Suddenly, the world around them seemed to fall away, leaving just the two of them. Even with the soft, golden glow of the room and honey sweet fragrances of the banquet, everything around them seemed to go dark, pale in comparison to the dance.

Then, after what felt like both eternity and a quantum instant, their dance ended. The last notes died away, and the world faded back into reality.

Just like that, the moment ended.

That was strange, Red Oak thought. Fog don't breath… nor do they cool themselves with sweat, nor should they feel…

...curious.

She blinked, and staggered away from her Admiral. The ballroom was nearly empty, she realized, with only a janitor mopping at stains on the immaculately polished floor.

"Ah….heheh," Alex laughed dripping with amusement, echoed in the room. His suit, much like her dress, was patched in sweat, and his hair out of place. "It seems, Miss Red Oak, that we have quite literally danced the night away."

She fought the urge to giggle madly herself. How this had happened, she couldn't even guess, but the sensation, the exhaustion and happiness….

...was indescribable.

Though she didn't say another word, the Admiral seemed to catch her meaning when she nodded her head and left straight to her room.

Even as she reset her Mental Model, placed the very real- and borrowed- dress aside, her smile remained.

A genuine smile of glowing warmth, staying well into her sleep that night.

Far away and leagues under the Pacific Ocean, an encrypted message was forwarded to a waiting Fast Battleship, to enact the next phase of Chihaya Gunzou's plan. From there, the signal leapt to the base of New San Diego, and knifed deep through the paltry firewalls of the humans.

Taking an hour- longer than she would have liked, Iona successfully placed a set of instructions within the Vibration Warhead...and it's many, many copies manufactured by the Americans.

For now, nothing would happen… But, the signal was the beginning of the end. One way or the other, the war between Human and Fog would end with this action.

Editor's Note: Thank you for reading the chapter, everyone. It means a lot to both me and Kitsune. We also appreciate your patience~

It has been well over a year since we started working together. Somewhere around August of 2018 is the discord date, though we've been talking for longer than that.

Some news for y'all; we are planning on remaking the earlier chapters of this story. You see, with the amount of time, thinking, and inevitable ret-conning that means for us, the early chapters need to be reworked to fit where we're taking this story.

The first chapter wasn't written with anywhere near the complexity of a story we had in mind. Not to mention how we've both improved in writing, so expect the silly mistakes to be ironed out.

Lastly, we will be creating a Space Battles Forum for Midway!

You should be able to read chapters sooner, get more details as we go along, and just chat about the story in general. T'would be nicer to work with, like having music and images included. It should be easier for you to pitch in, no?

Look forward to it~

Caboose