The mighty Battleship. An image that evoked speed, power, and the heaviest armor available. A mighty weapon of war and the mainstay of any fleet. On Earth, as the modern navies of the world began to transition out of the age of sail and into the age of iron and steam old ideas about how a ship should fight held back the development of modern surface warfare. In that murky transitionary period a Battleship was the ship with the most guns and the heaviest armor. The launch of the Dreadnought changed that.

It was said that with the launch of the Dreadnought every Battleship before was obsolete. A bold, but accurate statement. The Dreadnought boasted an all ‘big guns’ design, with the highest caliber, longest effective range, and an unprecedented speed for its era. Anything its guns couldn’t crack it could out-run and out range. Every battleship that came after the Dreadnought followed its lead, eventually culminating in the ‘super’ battleships Bismarck and Yamato. Both of which had cost their parent nations a fortune and achieved very little.

The last battleships built on Earth were the Iowa’s, the very same ships Astarte had based her beloved Astaroth on. Built at a time when Battleships were losing effectiveness when pitted against carriers and air superiority the Iowa class’s contribution to surface warfare was a remarkable speed, cruising range, turning radius, and radar assisted aim. Even as the world moved into Carrier doctrine the Iowa’s remained useful as platforms for naval bombardment of ground targets.

The best example of this was when USS Wisconsin took a hit from North Korean artillery during the first Korean war. Her response was to turn all nine of her sixteen-inch guns towards that artillery position and wipe it off the map. To which the USS Duncan famously responded ‘Temper, Temper’.

Those were the images most Terran’s pictured when they thought of the Battleship. That was not what the Union imagined.

The Union Battleship was a behemoth of incomparable size and power. Capable of delivering enough pulse cannon fire to wipe a small city off the face of any planet. The few time’s a Union Battleship was called upon for orbital bombardment left cherry red craters in the planet’s surface. And that was when targeting heavily shielded cities.

The Union Battleship was more akin to a mobile weapons station with heavy armor. In direct fleet actions the Union Battleship was capable of only limited maneuvers to prevent its bulk from twisting it in half. Its main contribution to any engagement was a full sphere of devastating weapon’s fire, and out of combat it acted as a resupply and repair stations for long deployments away from any base.

Union battleships were built to handle the three dimensional nature of space warfare with as little maneuvering as possible. When viewed from very, very, far way the ship looked like an uneven diamond. The only distinction between front and back being the array of boosters in the ships aft section. But that was only when you could see it from many kilometers away, overwise the ship was so large it consumed a person’s entire vision like a shiny steel wall. When Astarte and her crew had been fleeing from a Draxori ambush she and her crew had performed a ballsy stunt by flying within pissing distance of a Battleship’s hull. They had flown that close to fly under the depression range of that ship’s main guns, and to force the Draxori and Union into a direct confrontation. On the outside Astarte had been calm, but insider she felt extremely unnerved by how close they had come to that ship.

Now, looking out a window at the Battleship at the end of a long arm stretching away the Station Astarte felt a flicker of awe. Hundreds of aliens of all sizes were rushing past her, eager to view the ship’s interior and to speak with its crew. They, as most Union species often did, gave her a wide berth as she stood there staring.

She used to be annoyed by it, but now she was happy to not be pressed up against and shoved by the flow of pedestrians.

That said there was still the occasional bump and shove that she had to endure. More than usual since she had decided not to wear her easily seen maroon armor that both made her look broader than she was and was a shade of red most species could see. She had left without the comforting presence of her armor and weapons since today was supposed to be a ‘date’ with Rachel.

She said ‘date’ with big air quotes since she knew this was actually just some sort of scheme to use the Arbiter’s civilian persona to probe Aster for information. Which was kind of stupid. Even if she hadn’t known that Rachel was the Arbiter the whole planwouldn’t have worked, its not like she was going to spill her secrets to just any cute boy or girl who asked her out. That sort of thing was third or fourth date material, and she rarely ever went past two.

One date to say hi, another to say goodbye.

Rachel on the other hand was much more open than Aster was, meaning that Astarte planned to turn the situation into her probing for info instead of being probed. That and the fact that Rachel seemed nice. A bit reserved and anxious, but that just made her fun to tease.

Aster pulled her gaze away from the impressive sight of the Iron Tree, which was a stupid name by the way, and followed the flow of traffic towards the admittance area.

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Contrary to the Union’s seemingly pacifist ideology the people of the Union took great interest in their government’s war machines. They were thoroughly against war but openly passionate about maintaining a massive fleet presence to ensure their protection. Given both the cowardly nature of non-deathworlders and the frantic need to feel secure it made sense. And Union propaganda portrayed every new warship not as another weapon to fight the enemy, but as another shield against the monsters lurking in the darkness of deep space.

As such the Union had a fairly relaxed stance about letting the public tour active warships. They restricted areas for security concerns, but otherwise they had an impressive open door policy. To better secure ships while in port ship, designers had altered their layouts to accommodate for public tours. Down a single corridor of most ships was where most of ships recreational/interesting areas, making for a small portion of the ship that would entertain the public while better restricting their movements.

The maps being displayed to the gathered public on illuminated screens boasted overhead views of the ship’s reactor set up, launching bays, and the CIC/helm of the Iron Tree. Which had Astarte both intrigued, and disgusted.

Intrigued because it meant she would get a good view at critical system’s, and disgusted at the egregious wastes of space. She was no ship designer or engineer, but she had played a heavy role in the Astaroth’s design. And she was appalled by just how much these touring routes would effect ship’s mass and volume. Hell, she had been annoyed by the necessary laundry and barber facilities on the Astaroth, this ship had an interior food court just for the public!

There was even an internal museum dedicated to the history of this one ship’s exploits.

She shook her head in disappointment after reading about the spa facilities. Being the only galactic power had made the Union’s navy soft and wasteful. But looking around the gathered aliens she saw the approving nods and other such similar gestures at the amenities aboard.

She saw a large bipedal buffalo looking alien nudge a younger one of its kind and point out the green spaces aboard, “See, they even have a small pond to make it feel like your on a planet. Joining the navy would be nice, relaxing career.” The male alien said. To which the kid responded with admiration.

She saw similar sorts of displays from several other alien parents. She remembered once hearing that the Union had trouble recruiting for their ‘peace time’ navy despite the massive population of the many worlds and stations that made up the Union. Fleet week and ship tours must have been another recruiting tactic.

“Heh,” Astarte thought to herself “They’d have no trouble recruiting if they just let Terran’s join up. I have to turn away at least a hundred hopeful applicants a month.”

Even without any Terran military organizations there were still a sizable percentage of people who desired something resembling military service. Some people were just innately wired to seek out action and adventure. The few non-Vet clan recruits Astarte hired had expressed joy at joining a secret Terran navy/marine force. If she remembered correctly that was how they got Limey.

Britain had something similar to the American Vet clans, but they acted more like isolated communities than the paramilitary pseudo police force that was the American Vet clans. Limey had just been a security contractor who applied to the Hellworlder fleet and fell into their marines without issue.

She hadn’t seen Rachel yet, so Aster had just stuck around the lobby area and was people watching when she saw a familiar short woman walk in. Rachel stepped into the lobby and began to scan the waiting area for Astarte, nervously fiddling with a purse strap.

Astarte felt a little disappointed seeing what Rachel had decided to wear.

Thankfully she had forgone the traditional Japanese clothes that were so popular on Unity, but she had maintained a similar standard of modesty in her outfit. Instead of pants she had chosen a long black skirt that ended just above her ankles, and said ankles were covered by a pair of long thick white socks. On her feet she had a pair of flat dull black shoes with a plain looking buckle on top. Above the waist wasn’t much better since she was wearing a long-sleeved white blouse that covered everything except her hands and neck. And to complete the 1920’s schoolteacher look she had done her hair up into a tight bun.

Aster in turn had opted for something more revealing and less stuffy looking. Union stations were typically a little warmer and more humid than what was comfortable for humans and felt a lot like beach weather to Astarte. So she gone for a sleeveless white blouse that left her shoulders and much of her back open and an admittedly short dark blue skirt. Unfortunately she hadn’t brought many shoes aboard the Astaroth to properly pair with her outfit so she had to make do with the sturdy boots she usually wore with her armor.

She had been hoping to see Rachel in something more relaxed than the last time they had ‘officially’ met. The traditional Japanese kimono had been a work of art, but Rachel had been so stiff and obviously uncomfortable in it than it seemed more like the dress was wearing her. But despite the overly conservative appearance, or maybe because of it, Rachel looked far more at ease than when Aster had met her at her parents party. And that in itself had a beautifying effect that wiped away Astarte’s disappointment.

That, and the fact that Aster had imagined her holding a ruler in one hand with a stern look of disapproval. After that mental image she had a different opinion of the whole school teacher look.

She shook her head and wiped the sloppy smirk off her face and made a sharp whistle to grab Rachel’s attention. Rachel’s head whipped around and focused in on Astarte, before she could think she began to walk over. Then Rachel’s eyes glanced down, and then began wander over Astarte’s body and outfit and the girl paused mid stride.

Astarte held back a laugh at the literal slack jawed expression Rachel was making. She hadn’t been entirely too sure of the girls tastes beforehand, which was unusual for Astarte since she typically had a good sense of when a person was into her. But right now there was no doubt in her mind that this girl was checking her out. Pretty blatantly too.

A part of Aster wanted to believe it was because she was just that stunning. It was a vain and prideful impulse, and not something she was ashamed of. But the more logical side of her brain wondered if Rachel was just that inexperienced. Maybe her career as a uniformed pig for the Union had taken up too much time for any romantic encounters?

Beating and imprisoning innocent civilians must take up a majority of her energy.

The awkward moment stretched on as the girl was literally paralyzed and speechless. Just days ago this very same girl gone up against an unhinged cyborg assassin back to back with Astarte, and now she was stunned by a bit of skin.

Astarte smirked to herself, today was going to be fun. “A picture will last longer.” She teased.

Rachel blinked and forced her eyes to meet Aster’s “What?”

She rolled her eyes “I said a picture would last you longer.” Seeing the still blank expression on Rachels face Aster felt her smile broaden. “You know, for later when your all alone.” She said with wink as she strode forward.

The ‘undercover’ officer sputtered, getting out a few half-formed words before finally settling on saying “I wasn’t staring!” a little too defensively to be believable.

“Riiight” Aster said, drawing out the word in tone that made it clear she didn’t believe her. “Your eyes must have just gotten stuck in the down position.” She said as she kept walking towards the entrance to the Iron Tree and past the metal detectors that didn’t alert anyone to the hardened ceramic knife strapped under her skirt.

“I wasn’t” the girl said more forcefully, before she sprinted to catch up to Astarte’s long strides.

Oh yeah, today was going to be a lot of fun. Finally something to relieve a little of the pent up stress she had been feeling since her fist day on Unity.