Ultima Ratio

Chapter 4: Homecoming

Akira stood off to the side of the flight deck, the salty sea breeze whipping her braided hair around in the wind. After an hour of trying to coax more information out of Danya, the goddess's answer remained unchanged: release her, and she would take care of Verus Rex herself. And by "take care" she meant "kill," she helpfully clarified.

As tempting as the offer was, that also wasn't Akira's decision to make. Her only orders were to protect Izzy on their hunt for information about Verus Rex, and now that the mission was completed, the results had to move up the chain of command. Besides, the dash of intel Danya provided made absolutely no sense to Akira. After all, how could this Orel, an apparent god that existed a thousand years ago, be formerly known as Verus Rex, the leader of a country that was made within the past century?

But it wasn't Akira's place to make any sense of it. Someone more qualified would be the one to decide what happened next; all Akira could do now was watch as their ship returned to Pearl Harbor Naval Base, the first mobile military base in the world.

As the majestic monstrosity came into view, Akira couldn't help but feel a sense of pride rush through her. The base was obnoxiously huge, sure, but it was made by the United States. As gaudy as it was, seeing the various flags of the world waving from the quarterdeck always made Akira's heart ache. To her, it symbolized that while the world was only brought together under awful circumstances, at least they intended on fighting together until the end.

Years ago, when the original Pearl Harbor was lost to flooding from rising sea levels, the US Department of Defense wasn't about to let its legacy drown with it. Instead, they built a military base that could traverse the world; little did they know it would end up housing sections of the world's militaries, or that it would play a key part in Earth's defenses.

The base was essentially a floating island, and much larger than the one Akira just left. In its standard form, it was equivalent to eight aircraft carriers clustered together and could be separated into segments for maintenance or to traverse narrow passages.

As their cruiser pulled into port, the smell of seawater was joined by a gust of savory aromatics; lunch was in full swing, and Akira was starving. The nostalgic scents of garlic and shoyu were nearly successful in seducing her attention, and it took sheer willpower, along with several light punches to her gut, to keep her focus on track.

The docking evolution may have only taken ten minutes, but that was ten minutes too long for Akira. She was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet as she waited for the ship's brow to be lowered, and she crossed it as soon as it was deemed safe, already mentally updating her planned route to her CO's office as she evaluated the base's current conditions.

Up close, the outside of the base looked like a typical land-based industrial port. Towering cranes weaved around the docks, their maglev tracks outlining the border of the main base. Past the maintenance area was a thick array of industrial structures, a mixture of warehouses and office buildings no more than eight stories high. All were painted in similar shades of gray, each identified with a bold black number above their respective main entrances.

Pride was the last thing on her mind as she hurried through the bustle of workers and maintenance vehicles, quickly forgoing an embarrassing power walk in favor of a full-on run. Oddly enough, she wasn't the only one in a hurry, but she focused on avoiding a collision with her fellow commuters instead of pausing to question it.

As Akira rushed closer to the center of the base, it became clearer that something wasn't right. Not only were the narrow streets more crowded than the normal lunch rush, everyone present appeared to be on a mission more pressing than food.