Chapter 158 - 144

"Engineers, leave the clean up to my girls. Prioritise repairs on the Factory and Docks. I need them to be operational by tonight. You there! Stop ogling my girls and get to work! If I catch any one of you eyeballing them, I will personally send you to hell. Move it!"

Damn perverts. You are hired to work, not stare.

A few hours after I reported about the attack, a passenger ship escorted by Tone and Chikuma showed up and docked at our pier. On board the ship were several engineers lead by Grand Admiral Hasake and a small handful of Military Policemen. While the military police begin their questioning, the engineers went around taking pictures and doing makeshift repairs. Until they properly assess the situation and bring in the appropriate materials, we have to make do with makeshift repairs.

"Steady that crane! Oh for f-! Clear the area!" (Grand Admiral Hasake)

A loud crashing sound can be heard as a load of debris dropped to the ground from a crane.

"How many times do I have to tell you to tighten the damn fasteners?! What would you do if someone was hit by all that?! How are you going to take responsibility for their injuries?! Or even their deaths? Let this be the last time!" (Grand Admiral Hasake)

"Yes, Grand Admiral! I'm truly sorry, Grand Admiral!" (Crane operator)

The crane operator Grand Admiral Hasake was scolding did a 90 degree bow.

"Clean this up!" (Grand Admiral Hasake)

The surrounding engineers scrambled to clean up the fallen debris.

Grand Admiral Hasake went and picked up a loud speaker,

"I am going to repeat this again until you lemons get it into your heads! Safety is of utmost importance! This is not like those simulations or obstacle courses we have back in school. This is a real, on the ground work. Anything can happen. So you better watch your heads!" (Grand Admiral Hasake)

That's Grand Admiral Hasake, Head of Researcher and Engineering in Yokosuka R&D department. He was the one that came up with a technology based on the shipgirl's arsenal and fix it onto all of our sh.i.p.s to reduce the reliance of having shipgirls to constantly guard civilian and patrol sh.i.p.s. I heard his next project is developing handheld weapons strong enough to pierce through Abyssal armour. He is a genius, a superior but first and foremost, a teacher. He would rather spend time teaching and nurturing up and coming engineers and researchers rather than staying in the lab and do boring calculations. According to him, he wants to bring out the creative potential in people. He wants to see them do better than him and be more successful than him. Even as his team is doing repairs and cleaning, he is still giving them tips on how to do it more efficiently. Some of my girls are also paying attention to his lessons.

I should show them what I can do too.

"Here. Let me help."

I went over to one of the store rooms which got damaged by Ember's rampage. The roof is riddled with holes and the steel doors were punched out of their hinges. Currently, Samidare, Pamiat Merkuria and Harusame are moving the contains out while Ryuujou tries to fix the holes.

"Admiral? Shouldn't ya be restin'? Zuihou is gonna pissed again." (Ryuujou)

"She is just overreacting. It's just a couple of burns and bruises. Anyway, hold that side down. I will weld it together."

The attack caused us to suffer quite a number of casualties. Three CAVs, one CVL, three CLs, ten DDs and two BBVs. All heavily damaged. I myself got some bruises and a couple of light burns. While I'm more or less fine, it's the injured girls I'm worried about. That's why I told the engineers to prioritise repairs on the docks and factory.

Despite the large number of shots that came out of Ember, none of them managed to land outside the base. Everything was contained within the district. Mamiya's shop was reduced to rubble. Some of the rooms in the dorms were destroyed. The factory and docks were hit pretty badly. The training academy was blown in half. The command building had it's right wing blown apart. Some of our store rooms were blown up by the barrage, taking some of our precious resources with it. Other miscellaneous buildings were also reduced to simple piles of wood and debris. It will take us a while to get things back up to operational standards.

"Hey! Admiral! What are you doing up there?! Onee-chan said you shouldn't be moving around!" (Zuihou-chan)

"I'm fine! These are just superficial injuries!"

I shouted from the top of the store room, swing my arms about.

Maybe the spot I was kneeling on was already weakened and my arm flailing shifted my weight and made it worse, but it suddenly gave way under me!

There was a loud crash followed by a sharp pain in my back,

"Admiral!" (Zuihou-chan)

"Kyaa! Commander has-!" (Harusame)

"Crap! Someone go call Commander Rei! Oi! still alive, Admiral?" (Ryuujou)

And of course, the expected screams of shipgirls.

"I'm alr- Ouch!"

Sharp pain coursed through my body. I was going to say I'm alright, but I retract my statement. The wooden crates and barrels I land on broke my fall, but I think I might have hurt my back. I reach my hand behind me to apply some pressure on my back.

"Good. Still alive. Oi~ Those two onii-san slacking off over there! We have a casualty over here! Get a stretcher!" (Ryuujou)

"Admiral! Are you alright?" (Samidare)

Samidare and Pamiat Mercurial rushed over to check on me.

"Ya made quite a spectacular fall." (Ryuujou)

"Ryuujou-chan, come down already. We need to help Admiral." (Samidare)

"Yea'. Wee problem... My legs ain't moving..." (Ryuujou)

"Ryuujou-senpai, I will hold the ladder. Please get down. It's dangerous up there." (Zuihou-chan)

"Well, that's the first time someone called me senpai. I will try." (Ryuujou)

I can see Ryuujou struggling to move to the ladder from down here.

"You better not fall! I won't catch you!"

"Shut it! And don't ya dare look up!" (Ryuujou)

"Come on, you two. Help me up."

"Are you sure? Shouldn't we wait for Commander Rei to arrive first?" (Pamiat)

"Well, it really hurts. But I don't think-"

"Good lord. You are worst than my students." (Hasake)

Grand Admiral walked with two engineers.

"Grand Admiral."

"Since you so lively, I doubt it's anything serious. but we can't be too sure. Can you stand?" (Hasake)

"Give me some time. This really hurts."

Grand Admiral Hasake whipped out his phone and made a call,

"Hello. This is Grand Admiral Hasake of the IJN. I need an ambulance here. One of my men took a huge fall. Yes, the address-" (Hasake)

He can't be serious. He is calling for an ambulance.

"Wait, Grand Admiral. That won't be necessary."

"Clam it. A back injury is a serious injury. I'm sending you to the hospital." (Hasake)