Princesses of the Migrant Fleet

[Hellsing]

(These events take place in between Reunion and The Scarman Enigma. This little story primarily follows the exploits of three members of the HiME Program and Reverend Mother Program. A little background on the HiME and Reverend Mother Program: ISA Descriptions on Programs.. This story will include some of the characters used by myself, Wilder, and Scarman, but they will not be the focus. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the story.)

Fleet Admiral's Private Quarters, Tuatha de Danaan
Undisclosed Location

"So, do you ladies understand your assignments?" Merlow asked the three women before him.
"Yes." they replied in unison.
"Good. Get to it. You're all dismissed."
Two of them saluted crisply to Merlow, one just nodded. As one, they about faced and exited the room.

Lady Integra Hellsing was the first to leave the room. She flung her long blond hair back as she reached into her suit coat for a Bretonian cigar. Rear Admirals Teletha Testarossa and Yuki Nagato followed right behind her, dwarfed by Hellsing's height. They stayed a little bit behind her, discussing navy business. As they turned the corner to enter the turbo lift, Hellsing stopped.

"I don't like the fact that that man thinks he can order me around like one of his subordinates," she scoffed, "I am one to be ordered around."
Rear Admiral Testarossa pushed her gently into the lift, "He is the Commander in Chief of the Migrant Fleet, Integra. You have to follow his orders."
"Just because he was the leader of the Freedom Fighters---" Hellsing was cut off as Yuki entered the lift.
"Stop complaining." Yuki said mechanically, pressing the button for the teleporter rooms, "It makes things more difficult."
"I don't need some young, underage---"
"We're twenty-two now, thank you very much." Tessa said, crossing her arms, "We've seen a thing or two, not to mention that we are the most brilliant minds that came out of Liberty in a very long time."
Reverend Mothers. Always sticking up for one another. Hellsing thought to herself. "Keep in mind, I am still in command of this little expedition, so you two will have to---"
"Again, wrong." Yuki spoke quietly, "We're all equals in this endeavor. We operate as one."
They never miss a beat, do they!? Hellsing raged at herself, "Fine. Hopefully I'll never have to speak to either of you during this mission." She knew that was wishful thinking, but it never hurt to make a wish.

Nagato and Integra walked off the lift without another word while Tessa continued on to the bridge. Merlow would transfer over to the LNS Yukon in a few hours, signaling the beginning of their operation. Each of them expected this to be relatively uneventful. How flawed that judgment would be...

---

Lady Integra Hellsing, Order of the Royal Knights
"Do not toy with me, Servant! Any force which hinders us is to be crushed underfoot!" ~ Lady Integra Hellsing
----------------------------

Bashar Teletha Testarossa, Independent Systems Alliance
"Don't tell me how to run my ship! I designed it!" ~Bashar Teletha Testarossa

[Hellsing]

HMS Alucard

Lady Integra Hellsing walked down the hallway, feeling immense elation and pride in her command, her vessel. The HMS Alucard had been in design more than a decade ago by the Bretonian Navy of the "Evolved" universe. Deemed too expensive and labor-intensive by the Bretonian Navy, it was shelved. The Order of Royal Knights, it's extensive connections, large pockets, and access to advanced technologies, took the basic design and ran with it. The result of three years work and millions of credits was the HMS Alucard, the most advanced ship that Bretonia had ever produced. That was eight years ago, before the Bretonian Civil War, before the Sigma War, before this whole crazy adventure plopped her in the middle of a unknown universe. This was the sixth year that the Alucard was under her command, and it had gone under numerous upgrades and trials over those six years.
For the last few days she's been cooped up on board the flagship of the Migrant Fleet, the Tuatha de Danaan. She didn't quite understand the whole Liberty chain of command (never been subject to a system similar to it) and couldn't understand how a girl like that damnable Teletha Testarossa could command the First Fleet's Capital Ship. For that reason, she found her tenure on board the Danaan near interminable. She hated that girl's presence, and was glad to be back aboard her own ship.

When she entered the bridge, she took a large breath and opened her eyes, expecting the crew to be working diligently at their stations, not changing at all as she walked walked to take her place in her command chair. Instead, the entire bridge stood still, staring at the command chair, a pair of legs and a tuft of hair sticking out of it. She approached the chair slightly angry. Someone was in her command chair as if they were in command of the ship. She turned the chair around to find a General Thomas Serov staring back at her. She took a step back, taken aback.

"General," she said quietly, "What are you doing in my chair?"
He smiled back at her, "I'm simply doing my job, Integra."
She wasn't amused, "If I remember correctly, this is my ship and the Fleet Admiral assigned the mission to myself, Tessa, and Yuki. I don't remember any mention of you."
"Well, my dear," he began, rising out of her chair, "I believe that this is best discussed in your ready room, don't you?"
"Of course..." The two of them walked to her ready room, away from the prying eyes and ears of the bridge crew.

Hellsing took a seat at her desk, Serov taking a seat in one of her very comfortable guest chairs.
"General, you were in my chair on the bridge." she said, quite angry, "There was no good reason for you to be there."
"Relax, woman." Serov replied nonchalantly, "I'm here by request of Merlow."
"I didn't give him any authority to send an ---"
Serov held up his hand, "He doesn't need any. He's the Commander-in-Chief of the Migrant Fleet. He has supreme authority over pretty much every aspect of the fleet," he paused, pointed at Integra, "including
you."
Integra glared at him, "He has no right---"
Again, Serov interrupted her, "Yeah, he does. Nothing you say can change that. This entire fleet was placed in his hands as soon as the five houses decided to put the First Fleet in charge."
"Then why are you here!?" she screamed at him, obviously losing it.
"I'm here to observe your performance and behavior." he stated simply.
She was seething with anger. It was always the same with these Liberty types. They always needed to 'watch' her.
"Fine!" she spat, "I'll play along."
"Good!" Serov clapped his hands together, smiling, "Karmen and I will be in the VIP Guest Quarters. I hope you don't mind."
She shot a vicious glance at him, "No. Not at all."
Serov walked out of the Ready Room, whistling a tune as he left.

---

Lady Integra Hellsing, Order of the Royal Knights
"Do not toy with me, Servant! Any force which hinders us is to be crushed underfoot!" ~ Lady Integra Hellsing
----------------------------

Bashar Teletha Testarossa, Independent Systems Alliance
"Don't tell me how to run my ship! I designed it!" ~Bashar Teletha Testarossa

[Hellsing]

LNS Data Entity

Rear Admiral Nagato Yuki closed her eyes as the warm white light engulfed her entire body. She would never openly admit it, but she hated the teleporter. There was something inherently frightening about having your body and mind stored in a pattern buffer, reduced from a person to raw data to be reconstructed from one port to another. She didn't like to think of herself as just another data packet. That's why she never opened her eyes. She didn't want to see what the world looked like when she was just data. She felt the ground forming below her, opening her eyes as the white light subsided. She was back on board her ship, back with her people.

Just like Lady Hellsing, she had spent the last few days aboard the Tuatha de Danaan. Although she loved Tessa and her guest quarters were rather nice, she felt a bit... alone. Whenever she was off of her ship, she had a habit of acting distant, mechanical, impersonal. On board her ship, with her people, she felt at home. Many members of the Migrant Fleet felt that her ship had a strange feel to it, as if something just felt really wrong. Perhaps it was the fact that her entire bridge crew consisted of clones of herself. Maybe it was the fact that her entire bridge crew consisted of clones of herself. Maybe it was the fact the Cruiser was so heavily modified that the inside is nearly unrecognizable. Maybe it was just Yuki's general demeanor. In any case, most members of the Migrant Fleet preferred not to be on board the Data Entity for longer than they had to be.

She walked down the hall, an air of security and authority followed her. She felt much more confident aboard her ship and felt more in control. As she walked, the numerous crew members saluted her as she walked by. She felt satisfied as each person saluted, more fulfilled, knowing that each crew member kept her ship running. When she walked on the bridge, she expected her bridge crew to be working hard at their stations, perhaps looking up once as she walked in to take her place at her command chair. Instead she found her entire bridge crew looking at the command chair. Someone was obviously sitting there, in her place. She approached slowly, noticing the black slacks and tuft of spiked hair. She materialized a small book in her right hand, tearing out a few pages, making them sharp as blades hovering around her head. The chair turned around to face her. Yuki plucked a page swirling about her head and formed it into a blade. She rushed the chair, prepared to kill whoever was sitting in her chair. She rushed forward and thrust her paper blade towards the chest of the unknown usurper. She was surprised when the blow was blocked by a combat knife. The holder of that knife was a General Thomas Serov.

He looked back up at her, smiling, "Hello, Admiral. Good to see that you arrived on board safely."
She made her book and paper vanish into thin air, "General, you're in my seat," she said quietly.
"Of course." He rose with a bow. She watched him with her normal blank expression, not taking a seat as he rose.
"General," she asked quietly, "what are you doing on my bridge?"
He smirked at the question, "I'm here to oversee the operations. Not as a commander, but as an observer."
Yuki just stood there, eying him. She didn't like the idea of an overseer, but she knew that she had no choice in the matter.
"I see," she said quietly, "I have no objections."
"Good!" Serov clapped his hands together, "I'm going over to the Danaan and inform Admiral Testarossa."
Yuki gave him a slightly quizzical look, "Why don't you use my communicator?"
"That's no fun." He said with a smirk. With that said, he waved with a smile as a transporter beam locked on to him and took him from Yuki's bridge.

Yuki looked to her bridge crew with a knowing look. They all understood. Her clones got back to work at their consoles. She took her seat at her command chair and settled in. She was home.

---

Lady Integra Hellsing, Order of the Royal Knights
"Do not toy with me, Servant! Any force which hinders us is to be crushed underfoot!" ~ Lady Integra Hellsing
----------------------------

Bashar Teletha Testarossa, Independent Systems Alliance
"Don't tell me how to run my ship! I designed it!" ~Bashar Teletha Testarossa