145: Chapter 145 Top Secret

Horizons Edge, Plata Port.

"Good morning, Miss Fujian. I hope you slept well last night."

"Umm, morning, Logic." Fujian climbed out of bed, staring at the ceiling a bit dazed.

Ever since the Ship Girl Bureau established a branch office in Plata Port, the port had officially become the administrative center of Horizons Edge.

She had originally wanted to spend the night in the room the Commander used to stay in, but upon entering, she found Laffey tucked into the bed, so she had to obediently return to her own room to sleep.

As for mimicking her Commander and sleeping while holding Laffey? Although Laffey likely wouldn't refuse, she really couldn't bring herself to do it...

If the fact that she had rolled around on the Commander's bed and slept there for a night out of boredom was leaked to him by Logic, her life as a ship would be over, wouldn't it?

She rubbed her eyes; it had only been a week, yet it felt like a year had passed.

She sat up and rolled out of bed to wash. Although her hair was ridiculously long, its quality was surprisingly good, becoming neat with just a bit of tidying.

Then she changed her clothes and left her room.

"Good morning, Miss Fujian!"

A girl with light purple hair approached her. "It's another quiet day today."

"Morning, Javelin." Fujian patted her head. Although this Destroyer lady could be considered her... great-grandmother in terms of ship age, she was still treated as an elder now. "Do you know where Golden Deer is?"

"Miss Golden Deer is in the kitchen."

"I see. Thank you, Javelin."

Golden Deer had taken over the kitchen on her very first day, mainly because Fujian's cooking "still had immense room for improvement," and the Ship Girl Bureau branch's cafeteria was even worse than Fujian's.

Although Javelin and Ayanami could also cook, but...

Don't you all really think this is a bit embarrassing?

Sighing, Fujian turned and walked toward the office building.

Since Plata Port opened its harbor, ocean-going vessels had gradually begun operating in the open fishing zones.

However, the blockade of certain sensitive areas had also drawn attention. Even though it was strictly mandated that unregistered vessels were prohibited from entering the waters, some ships were like flies—leaving when shooed away, only to return a moment later.

There was no helping it; before they actually entered the restricted zone, the fleet couldn't exactly swat them with anti-aircraft guns.

According to the plan, Plata Port would be opened to foreign civilians and diplomats as a temporary stopover in the future, but not just yet.

FVS1001, acting as the flagship, had already left the port for a routine cruise in the fishing zone as a show of deterrence and power.

After Golden Deer took over the harbor's cafeteria, she successfully took over the Ship Girl Bureau's cafeteria in less than two days, merging the two.

Before Li Ming could reorganize the workplace, Golden Deer started. She first sent those Ship Girl ladies who had no heart for the cooking profession back to clerical positions, then readjusted the staffing and analyzed dish types based on demand.

Passing by the harbor, the nearby docks worked day and night. The next... no, the next three battlecruisers were already under construction.

The shipyard's production of transport ships and Destroyers never ceased, supplying the ever-expanding scale of industry and logistics.

As for aircraft carriers, they were being built at the shipyard in the core area.

She looked toward the front of the office building, where the flag symbolizing Horizons Edge was fluttering on the flagpole.

A blue background with two white lines across the bottom and a white triangular star in the top right corner.

Exhaling, she walked into the office building... well, the cafeteria next to it.

The cafeteria must be built on the first floor!

"Good morning, Miss Fujian!"

"Morning."

"Good morning, Lady Fujian..."

"Mm, morning."

In less than a week, Fujian had already established considerable prestige within the Plata Port branch of the Ship Girl Bureau.

After all, they had been thrashed by the Sirens while setting up the bureau; if Fujian hadn't pulled them through, half of them probably would have perished on the way.

Of course, because Fujian hadn't used any rigging other than firing arrows, many strange rumors had surfaced.

Rumors like "Fujian destroyed 2,000 Siren mass-produced ships with a single arrow," "Fujian downed an airship at ten thousand meters with a stone," and "Fujian exploded a Siren humanoid unit with her fists" were everywhere.

Fujian simply laughed off these exaggerated tales of gratitude. As for the actual truth, only one person, one ship, and one AI likely knew.

"Good morning, Fujian. What would you like to eat this morning?"

Golden Deer was busy in the kitchen and greeted Fujian as she saw her enter.

"What do you have?"

Fujian peered in. Ever since the Commander and Z23 left together, she seemed to be hungry every day.

It definitely wasn't because she craved Z23's braised pork hock...

"Bread, bacon, sausages... breakfast is quite simple, as you know."

"Hmm... eight slices of bread, with cream, please."

"Just a moment."

Soon, Fujian sat down anywhere with a plate piled high with cream-covered bread.

"Bzz bzz..."

"Huh?"

Feeling the phone vibrate, she pulled it out of her pocket and took a look.

A message relayed from FVS-1001.

Logic - Emergency Information Channel: [Archived Information - Top Secret]

Top-secret information required viewing from the bridge of a core combat ship or a subordinate deployment zone.

Strange. According to the previous plan, monthly information was supposed to be transferred back to the central data unit via hard drive during the monthly rotation handover.

...Did something happen?

Fujian stood up abruptly, her heavy aura startling the nearby Ship Girls.

She walked into the kitchen. "Golden Deer, come with me to the office. Now."

"Coming." Golden Deer immediately dropped what she was doing and followed her out of the cafeteria.

In an instant, the cafeteria was in an uproar as all sorts of speculations and ideas surfaced.

"Quiet, everyone."

A Ship Girl in uniform from a corner suddenly spoke. The respectable Director stabilized the situation. "Finish your breakfast and return to your posts immediately."

——————

"Apologies for interrupting your breakfast," Logic expressed her regrets. "However, only you two can open this encrypted information."

Due to the distance, Logic's core mainframe in the direction of the continent could not be directly connected.

The transmission of information and commands relied on hardware and long-distance transmission. However, hindered by the Federation's level of intelligence, the version of Logic at the harbor could only confirm if her secondary mainframe's operational status was normal.

And information encrypted at the highest level by their Commander, due to protocol restrictions, had to be personally unlocked by Fujian or Golden Deer.

Fujian and Golden Deer sat down, took the tablet, and unlocked the information using fingerprints and a password.

...

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