Chapter Text
“Fascinating! The Praetor Cube has taken the look of armor, much like Doctor Bethencourt mentioned in his notes, but the design and shape is clearly a reflection of the influences from the people present in the chamber” Chkalov said, while looking at the Commander.
She had produced a video camera from her lab coat the moment they had finished the experiment, and from that moment on she began circling the commander, making commentary about his looks, forgetting about everyone else in the room, with Yuubari and Soobrazytelny and Da Vinci taking notes as they were looking at him. Which was something everyone else also seemed to be doing at the moment.
Only TB seemed to be doing something different, regardless of her looking quite excited at the moment, the commander could see the car-drone moving towards the chamber, just as TB walked alongside it, the drone popping out a small mechanical claw that poked a couple times against the wall of the inner chamber that the commander was currently inside of.
“Ah. Hold on a second.” TB said as she made a dissatisfied pout before smiling back at the commander “The inner chamber has a physical lock I cannot access through the network. Controlling this needs a bit more finesse than I thought”
After a couple attempts the door to the inner chamber opened up, the commander took that as his signal to move out of it.
He moved with a couple awkward steps at first, having to lower the lance in his hand, which fortunately enough, didn’t feel like it had any real weight to it, being careful of moving the lance in a way that did not endanger anyone, or the installations.
“Incredible he has no problems moving inside the armor! His movements seem natural and fluid, regardless of the apparent change of size.” Chkalov said, then turning towards TB’s drone “TB. Can you please confirm the measurements? Is he taller or is it my idea?”
“He is taller, almost by 6 inches in total, but this includes both the difference in height created by the soles on his feet’s armor as well as the highest point created by the helmet’s shape.” TB replied back through the speakers in the room.
“Yes, the Helmet is an interesting one, it holds no obvious resemblance to armor seen from either faction, but rather it resembles the Praetor cube’s original head, the slits for eyes and the order in which the plates are arranged is not quite the same as it was before, looking slightly flatter, just in a much more accommodating size to work as a helmet as well as looking much more the part of a -set- with the rest of the armor, now that I think about it, it resembles Kiev’s rigging much more now than it does Kronshtadt’s, it doesn’t have as much influence on its shape or the accents on it, as the rest of the armor does. But personally I rather like it”
Chkalov had detailed all about the helm as she drew closer and filmed from various angles, as she continued making commentary regarding the shape of the helm as well as the armor.
“Yeah, no bias happening there.” Da Vinci chuckled at that.
“Oh! of course I am biased, that’s why I like it so much.” Chkalov replied without missing a beat and without a single hint of restraint about her honest opinion.
The mention of a helmet took the commander by surprise nonetheless, as he didn’t perceive any sort of visual or physical interference, nor did he felt anything close to his head.
Thinking about it, it made sense since he was able to see TB, or some resemblance of -sense- at the very least, if she was within the base’s network and the Praetor cube was able to pick on the signals or log into the network too, it would be possible to show her as being present if he was looking at things through the perception of the Praetor cube. Or something. At the very least, it was something he was sure to keep in mind to talk about later, since the girls seemed rather focused on their current inspection of him
With that thought in mind he moved his head around. He immediately felt limitations to the sides, turning his head he noticed he was wearing sort of armor, at the very least something similar to a pauldron, along with some sort of tuff, or fur most likely, just barely at the edge of his field vision by his neck, all of it marginally limiting his ability to move his head around as well as slightly interfering with his view.
The moment he thought about being unable to see properly behind himself, a computer-like window appeared in front of him, slightly above his frontal point of view, working in the same way as a rear-view mirror, showing him what was behind him.
He frowned at that, it was handy for sure, but it felt like it was too much visual interference at the moment. With just that thought being apparently enough, the window closed, giving him back his full-frontal view.
Which probably wasn’t his normal full view. With his left hand he gingerly reached his own face, he noticed that his fingers stopped at some point, he could see the armored fingers almost about to reach him but they stopped as he made contact with what he imagined was the Helmet he was wearing.
“I seem to have a complete view, regardless of the helmet. It almost feels like I am not wearing anything on my head, no visual obstructions I can perceive. I seemed to have activated a rear-mirror-like camera by just thinking about it. It closed off the moment I thought about it too.” The commander began stating, he had realized that if the girls were still on full research mode, stalling or not giving them all the information, would only lengthen things for everyone.
“Remarkable!” Chkalov said excitedly.
“Oh! it activates by mere thoughts?” Yuubari asked no one in particular as she furiously took notes. “There must be a higher-than-expected synchronization then, otherwise the response would feel slowed down, or subdued in some way. This is quite noteworthy as we expected some sort of delay given that Doctor Bethencourt’s affinity with wisdom cubes seems to be incredibly high.”
“Commander, any sort of slow response with any of your movements? Any sort of weird, er… feeling from your body?” Da Vinci asked from his side.
The commander hadn’t really paid attention to his body, which more or less implied there was no evident discomfort or disparity with his movements, but now that he thought about it, it was a very valid question, he was wearing an armor of sorts, so there had to be some sort of response or “feel” to it, the weight being the biggest part, but there was always the discomfort from certain parts rubbing against oneself. But the commander felt none of that, regardless of how much he moved his hands, legs or even his torso.
“I can feel certain limitations to my movements” He flexed his left arm at that, reaching a physical limit due to the armor “most likely from the armor parts touching against each other, being unable to bend over itself, but the responses feel as if I was wearing my regular clothes. Just thicker, or more complex on certain parts, not too dissimilar to wearing full tactical gear.”
“Understood. It makes sense of sorts.” Soobrazitelny replied as she too was taking notes continuously. “No matter how advanced it is, the movement of the armor will always be restricted by the armor itself, but to not feel restrictive outside of very physical limitations is quite an accomplishment in itself.”
“I cannot help but to notice that the Commander has come armed out of this. I thought you said this would only provide him with armor?” King George said, after clearing her throat and raising her voice to be heard over the mumblings of the frantic scientists.
“uh?!” they echoed in a chorus of well-educated scientific responses.
Looking at himself again, he realized that he had a leather holster going across his chest, a marked contrast against the metallic ornate armor. Following it he found two flintlock-like guns across on his chest, controlling his urge to grab either one of them he continued following the holster, which upon reaching his hip it had two sword scabbards held on it. One which seemed to be a standard Royal Navy Officer’s sword, or at least it looked that way from the pommel, the grip, and guard, which resembled King George’s own sword. The other one was most certainly a Katana, an officer’s Katana at that, he was almost certain of this, as the handle and the guard were almost identical to those of Atago’s own Katana.
He immediately realized that perhaps if they were to begin comparing the armaments against each other, they would be similar replicas to those they were obviously based on, with only their size being the difference. And that would probably be only so these would be more fitting for his size.
“Ok I get the swords, but why the flintlock guns?” This time TB asked out loud through the speakers in the room. “And why two of them? Representation seems to be a bit imbalanced here.”
“Well, any captain worth their salt must have at the very least one gun always ready!” Royal Fortune replied as she boldly walked towards the commander, a wide grin on her face as she rubbed her chin with her index and thumb. “And a singular gun wouldn’t cut it for someone such as the Commander.”
“Commander, mind if I take a look at your guns?” Royal Fortune said, a mischievous grin to her face, now that she was in front of him.
He snorted in response, the eldritch Kansen was probably one of the most well-mannered girls outside of the Royal Navy, so her funny quip wasn’t lost to him. He reached one of the guns with his left hand, feeling the motion much more natural than it should have been, as this was a first for him, holding the gun in such a way that it followed standard protocols of gun safety, as well as what he considered an extra gesture, with the barrel aiming down, slightly towards him with the handle aiming a bit more towards Royal Fortune.
In response her smile seemed to grow fractionally bigger, obviously pleased by the gesture.
“Commander, wouldn't you consider becoming my first officer?” She said while looking intently at him.
“Miss Royal Fortune, please do keep in mind that you are talking to a married man.” Belfast’s voice could be heard from behind Royal Fortune.
“Ah, please do forgive me, miss Belfast, it’s a privateer’s nature to want to take a hold of great treasure” Royal Fortune replied in a cheerful voice and a nonapologetic smile to her face.
“I concur with your assessment. We will remain vigilant nonetheless.” Belfast replied curtly.
Royal Fortune smiled back to Belfast in response to that, before turning back to the commander seemingly pleased with the interaction. Among those that were intent to go for some playful banter or even flirting with the commander, Royal Fortune was among the very few that were seemingly intent to not only get his attention but also get that of those of the Maid Corps, even going as far as to tease the commander if only to get a response out of Belfast.
Taking the gun off his hand and then nodding at him in acknowledgment, she then began inspecting it from the ornate bronze and wood handle to the barrel, humming appreciatively every now and then while most everyone in the room remained silent while watching her.
“Haha! I knew it!” She said excitedly, as she finished inspecting the weapon. “It is a high quality version of an Officer’s gun from the good old days. Cannot say what kind of ammo it uses, it is for certain not apt for any 12-pound balls, I think it could fit a 68’er there, but I get the feeling it is meant to use something much more recent”
With Royal Fortune seemingly certain of her estimate, she turned the flintlock gun back, aiming the pommel towards the Commander, with the barrel aiming to the ground in the same gesture that he had performed less than a couple minutes ago. He in turn grabbed it, holstered it down and with a deft motion he pulled out the second gun, giving it to her to inspect as well. This time, even to him it was evident that the second gun, the closest to his waist, was slightly bigger, feeling somewhat heavier too.
“Oh! this is definitely a big one!” Royal Fortune exclaimed. “I would bet a doubloon or two that this beaut here can shoot some of your capital gun’s ammo. Or at least I would guess it is that way, it feels somewhat disconnected from what I can do with a gun, truth be told.”
“Oh? That’s quite the assessment.” Warspite, who had followed after Royal Fortune, stated.
Royal Fortune in turn curtsied to the petite dreadnought, looking briefly at the commander, who in response to the gesture nodded in agreement, knowing that her glance was an implicit request of permission to hand over the gun.
Warspite nodded minutely as she took the gun, turning it around and getting it close to her face as she inspected it almost as if looking for flaws in it. She then held it in her hand by the handle, aiming down at the ground and then up to the ceiling, taking care of not pointing it towards anyone, apparently getting a sense of the weight and handle of it.
“I concur. I can tell it is very similar to those coming from the old days, somehow. Yet, it is something that would be too way back, even for me to know of. Yet, I do get the feeling I could load it up and use it as if it was one of my own main cannons.”
“Incredible! Doctor Bethencourt made no mention of armament at all, as such we can surmise that what we see it is a result from the influence of those present, probably the shared idea that the commander can wield the power of the nations that compose Azur Lane if he deems it needed…?” Chkalov said, sounding both certain as well as unsure in equal manner.
“Better rephrase it to ‘as he dons the responsibility of command for a multifactional force’” Yuubari replied to Chkalov’s lingering question.
“I agree, it sounds much better. Run it by Akashi once she comes back, she is the PR genius slash mad mind here.” Da Vinci added from somewhere behind the commander.
**
The researcher’s inspection of him only slowed down as they failed to address everyone else in the room, who in turn also had many questions and inquiries of their own, many which were more grounded than those of the researcher ladies present.
Sensitive questions regarding the safety of the commander, or how much time he would have to be standing around while they took notes.
That, and everyone in the room had equal amounts of questions regarding either his armor or his newfound armaments, as well as valid points of view and a veritable amount of experience regarding what he was donning from those present in the room.
As such, he soon found himself sitting on a solid metal chair, back in the first room they had been at, with Enterprise, Belfast, Atago, Chkalov and Soobrazytelny tending to him. In this case, it mostly meant they had been asking him questions regarding his ease of movement as well as his liberty of usage of the armor.
The lance, blades and guns had been handed out to the others to inspect much more closely, creating small impromptu research groups that had split in the room, each group taking a different table in order to inspect the weapons they had taken.
Warspite and King George took one group, in order to inspect the Royal Navy sword he had on his belt. There was a certain formality as he handed the sword to King George, fortunately for him, the martial protocols were similar enough between the Royal Navy and the Eagle Union, The commander was confident enough that he had handed the sword to the Leader of the Royal Navy in a respectful way.
Nagato and Yuubari borrowed his katana, perhaps taking the longest time to actually take it, as they decided to err on the side of tradition, turning the simple act of handing the blade to them onto a much more symbolic sort of ritual. Atago had helped him with this, positioning herself at his side and asking for Enterprise and Belfast to also stand with him, taking the blade with ceremonious elegance before delicately handing it to Nagato. It was not the first time that the commander had witnessed such an event, nonetheless it felt slightly different and with certain nuances to it that were lost to him.
Da Vinci and Royal Fortune requested the smaller caliber Flintlock gun to inspect it, although they decided to simply being themselves, and just asked him straightaway in their friendly ways rather than standing on any sort of formality.
New Jersey and Helena decided they wanted to inspect the bigger Flintlock gun, mentioning how they were intrigued by the idea of how it had been mentioned that it could hold some of their modern munitions. They made a group of gals from varied factions, accompanied by Yannis too, who had his interest piqued by the idea of the guns working at all.
Richelieu and Gascogne were part of the last group, which took the lance to inspect it, with many interested more on the banner that hung on the side of the lance, than on the weapon itself.
For his part, Chkalov and Soobrazitelny were meticulously examining his armor, moving from one position to the next, recording everything as well as making notes and observations, every now and then asking him simple things, like lifting his arm this or that way, to turn his head one way or another. Meanwhile, Enterprise, Belfast and Atago kept him company. With Belfast producing a freshly brewed pot of tea out of somewhere, this feeling pretty close to his “average” experience to events unfolding in Azur Lane.
“Commander, you seem to be fine within the armor, but I am wondering if you could remove the helmet part of it. At the very least it would make me slightly less anxious if I could see your face” Atago asked, looking somewhat anxious about him, which he couldn’t really blame her for.
Fortunately for him they had found that the helm could be retracted if he focused on the idea of not having it on. The moment he wished for the helmet to not be on his head, it opened up almost as if the head part had opened its maw, revealing his face, and then retracting back and disappearing into the rest of the armor. With his head now completely visible, it created a sense of relief that those present weren’t aware of until this moment.
Removing the helmet brought a new surprise for everyone though.
“H-hey, the commander’s eyes! they are glowing!” Enterprise said, making everyone else in their little group to move in front of the commander and look directly at him.
“Oh! They truly are! It doesn’t end there, the glowing part of his eyes forms up a diamond shape on his iris, probably representing a cube seen from above as it has the same hue as the Praetor Cube originally had.” Chkalov was quick to jump in front of him, recording the look of the commander's eyes from up close.
She then produced a flashlight from her coat’s pocket, looking behind her, she signaled for Belfast to come closer, not saying anything at all, rather only giving her the light and moving slightly to the side allowing Belfast to get upfront with the commander, while she continued recording.
“Commander, do you feel any sort of discomfort in your eyes? Or close to them?” Belfast said with a rather clinical tone to her, her fingers pressing certain parts of the commander’s face close to his eyes.
“None at all really.”
“Please follow the light.” Belfast stated as she continued performing a basic assessment of his vision.
“Do you notice any sort of change at all?” She asked.
The commander intended to quickly reply to her question, but he soon decided against it, rather, he focused on his eyes, blinking several times, and moving them from side to side.
“Well, everything seems clearer and much more detailed, feeling like I have a rejuvenated sight, although I reckon my natural eyesight is still pretty good. Oh! I can still see TB.” The commander said as he pointed to the semitransparent figure of TB that he had just seen beside the radio-controlled car she was controlling, with which Helena was using to have a conversation with the virtual assistant.
“Wait, what do you mean you can see her?” Soobrazitelny asked from his side as she too looked at the drone that TB was driving. “And what do you mean by -still-?!”
“Ah right, I wanted to mention it, but several things have happened.” He said as he rubbed his chin and shrugged his shoulders. “The moment I found myself inside of the Praetor Armor, I noticed that I was able to see TB, not the car, but her actual form beside the car, she looks semi-transparent to me but I can still see her.”
“Interesting.” Chkalov said “I am guessing that is a result of using the praetor armor, as you called it. Perhaps you are still seeing things as if you were still wearing the helmet, feeding you more detailed information around you, thus enhancing your sight, and I imagine the Praetor Armor has connected to our communications and perhaps our network, being able to detect TB’s presence within the lab and then show her avatar, which is something I know Akashi had worked on before.”
“But how would it even connect to our network within the lab?” Chkalov mused.
“Hey, TB dear!” Belfast asked towards the radio-controlled drone “Can you check if there are any unknown devices connected to the network within the building, please?”
“eh? Ah sure! Mm. There are no unknown devices within the building, all accounted equipment is logged in, as well as the cellphones of those with authorized access within the facility.” TB replied immediately, taking no time at all to check the information from within their network.
“All devices and… the cellphones… Commander, dear. Where is your cellphone at this moment?” Belfast asked.
“Mm? oh I have it here right in my po-” The commander said as he moved his hand towards his breast pocket, freezing completely realizing what had probably happened.
“Oh-!” he said astutely.
“Remarkable!” Chkalov added. “It is quite possible that the Praetor cube also consumed your cell phone, much in the same way it had taken materials from the lab before. Commander, do you think you could make a phone call to any of us? I would venture that only thinking about it should be enough.”
The commander frowned to himself, deciding he might as well do as the Northern Parliament researcher had asked, rather than trying to make sense of every high-sci-fi-fantasy hiccup that occurred around the base. With just focusing on the idea of making a phone call, with his hand even lifting up, out of habit trying to reach for his phone, he instead saw an image all too similar to the dialing screen of his phone, not too dissimilar to how the rear-view screen had appeared before, popping up slightly to the right side of his view which was the side he would often put his phone on.
A couple seconds passed by when suddenly Enterprise’s phone started ringing. The ringtone being a melodic song, everyone recognized it almost immediately, an arrangement Saratoga had prepared for her and had also somehow convinced Enterprise to sing it too, originally being something meant for her older sister. With passionate lyrics meant to cheer on someone, along with a violin going hard at it just at the right moments.
Enterprise quickly answered her phone, turning around and whispering to it. While everyone else pretended really hard they hadn’t noticed that the Legendary Enterprise had a dedicated passionate ringtone for her husband.
“Erick, dear, that was rather embarrassing-” Enterprise said, trying her best to control and hide away her blushing face.
“Ah, sorry sweetie.” The commander replied, still a little surprised that that had actually worked. “It seems it quickly responds to my commands, for better or for worse. Now, I got to hang up sweetie, pretty sure more questions will come out of this, love you!”
“er- ah, love you too.” She replied, from less than a few meters away from him.
Most everyone was able to hear their conversation, as the commander was not wearing a helmet anymore and enterprise was still in the same room as everyone else, and almost everyone too had the decency to pretend they had not heard their conversation.
Once they were done taking notes of the general outlook of the armor, as well as a few surprise features, such as enhancing the Commander’s senses, or its ability to connect to the Azur Lane network, or its Bluetooth compatibility, which had made Chkalov rather concerned.
At some point a new question was brought up, they asked the commander if he could remove the Praetor armor. Much to his own surprise, the thought hadn’t occurred to him until now, the idea made him worry for a few moments, as it was not something that anyone had discussed up to this point. A concern which proved to be just his usual paranoia, as when he focused intently on removing the armor, he -felt-, more than hear or see, the Praetor Cube asking back if he was sure about it.
He decided to verbalize it, wanting to be clear for the sake of the Praetor Cube itself, as well as everyone around him.
“Yes, please. I would like to remove the armor, for the time being, please.” The commander said concentrating on being both commanding as well as clear about his intention of donning the armor again.
With a burst of glowing cubes, which was already a familiar sight within the people from Azur Lane, the armor disengaged from the commander and reformed as a metallic bear by his side.
“Hey there buddy. How are you feeling?” The commander asked of the Bear, moving his hand towards the Bear’s head, gently patting it.
In response the bear made some sort of happy grunt, moving its head closer to the commander, not alerted or annoyed by Chkalov and Soobrazitelny who had immediately jumped to take notes and record it as they started circling around it.
“Oh, wouldn’t that make the weapons disappear?” Enterprise asked as she looked at the closest table.
The table being the one with Da Vinci and Royal Fortune, with Magdeburg holding the gun in her hand and pointing at the flint lock part of it as she was telling something to the rest of the girls at the table.
“Well, no one has made any sort of comment, so it would be safe to assume that the weapons have remained, even if the armor is not present.” Atago mused almost to herself.
“Uh, interesting, if the weapons remain… I wonder if we could modify, or rather upgrade them, we have learned from experience that any new Kansen that has manifested requires an upgrade to their equipment. It is safe to assume the situation might be similar for the Praetor Cube.” Chkalov said as she too looked at Magdeburg who was seemingly making the motions of reloading the flintlock.
“Heh, I am almost certain it will be possible, just as you said. But I’m afraid to see what sort of Bill Akashi will bring for this, without even including the cost of the parts to be used.” The commander chuckled at that with Chkalov quietly snorting back in good humor.
“Oh! That reminds me, if it works just like rigging, shouldn’t this child have a name of its own?” Atago asked the commander while she caressed the Bear’s head. “Both -Praetor Cube Bear-, or -Praetor Armor- sound cool, but it’s a mouthful and I think he deserves its own recognition.”
Enterprise and Belfast looked at her with obviously confused expressions, in contrast Chkalov and Soobrzitelny nodded in agreement to that statement.
“I have been thinking about it, honestly.” The commander said as he looked at the Bear. “I was thinking that since so far everything related to him had to do with concepts and the ideas behind those concepts and how they seem to affect the Praetor Cube Bear. With that in mind, I thought it might be for the best to follow the example of the Royal Navy and a name that is either a virtue or a wish, for a property that is wished upon a vessel.”
“That makes sense, and I concur that it might be a worthwhile naming nomenclature.” Belfast quickly replied while everyone else was still chewing through the explanation.
“hah.” The commander snorted in response to Belfast’s quick agreement, and her obvious bias. “I think it will invite trouble, truth be told, since it might seem like a challenge for some, but at the same time, I feel like it’s the most reasonable -wish- to put on what will become one’s shield, or armor, in this case.”
“Comrade Commander, what do you mean? What sort of name would that be?” Chkalov asked while Soobrazitelny started to jump excitedly on the spot, obviously catching up on the commander’s intention.
The commander looked at the bear, who had its head gently stroked by Atago, the bear looked back at the Commander, seemingly caught up in the seriousness of the commander’s intent to name it.
“-Unbreakable-.”