November 21st, 1939 - Firth of Forth - 10:57 Hrs - HMS Edinburgh - 2nd Cruiser Squadron (Flagship)
HMS Edinburgh couldn't help but stretch herself as she looked out across her bow, the stretching was a personification of her crew readying her for the gunnery exercise she was sailing out of Rosyth to partake in along with her squadron mates. Walking back down her deck she saw her crew rushing around, preparing her guns for action and checking that everything was where it was meant to be, not that anyone noticed her, she was a spirit, after all, reaching her stern she turned her gaze on her squadron mates, nearest to her was Aurora, the rebellious member of the group; slightly further out was Edinburgh's older half-sister Sheffield, the mother figure of the group, even though she was younger than Aurora, finally someways off was the final ship of the squadron, Belfast, Edinburgh's fun-loving little sister, who although the war was only a few months old, had already bagged a 13,000 ton German liner that had been trying to sneak back home, the biggest ship captured so far in the war.
"How are you doing over there Bel?" Edinburgh inquired; although ship spirits couldn't interact with their own crew, they could interact with one another, even being able to go aboard another ship if the said ship was alongside her, or at least in the same port.
"Fine, just a little bit nervous; you know, because of what happened to Oakie" Belfast replied meekly; she still hadn't recovered from the dramatic sinking of the battleship, HMS Royal Oak in Scapa Flow the previous month, which Belfast had been anchored in at the same time.
"It'll be fine Bel, there aren't any U-Boats about, and it's just a bit of Gunnery Practice, it's not like we're taking on the bloody Scharnhorst now is it?" Edinburgh replied in a soothing voice, the part about the Scharnhorst being a joke, as she figured the chances of them seeing said battlecruiser in action were about as slim as was reasonably possible.
"Thanks, Edi, I was just a little freaked out, after all, what happened to Oakie could have..." Belfast started to reply, only to drowned out by the sound of a powerful explosion, unquestionably from underwater judging by the column of water which engulfed her amidship, followed by an excruciating scream, one full of pain, and terror, Edinburgh could see her sister writhing around on her deck, as her hull sheered out of line, slowing to a halt.
"BELFAST!" Sheffield screamed, using her sister's full name instead of the shortened version, but Belfast didn't respond, she only continued to howl in agony as she came to a halt, her crew on deck rushing below, no doubt going to assist those fighting to save her.
"HMS Krooman, we need you here right fucking now, we need your help!" Aurora roared over the radio to the tugboat meant to be towing the gunnery target for the exercise they had been sailing for, only she could tow Belfast with any sort of effect, Towns were surprisingly big for light cruisers, weighing more than some heavy cruisers.
"Bel, speak to me, Bel!" Edinburgh pleaded as she watched her sister suffered in agony, the shock rooting her to the spot, her crew running about, reacting to the explosion as they were trained to, Edinburgh meanwhile could only stand and watch her sister suffer.
November 21st, 1939 - Rosyth - 15:52Hrs - HMS Edinburgh - 2nd Cruiser Squadron (Flagship)
Edinburgh stood on the key side, her view fixed on the dockyard of Rosyth, more specifically the dry docks and the ship currently occupying one of them. She couldn't believe it, her little sister, her fun-loving life of the party little sister, had just had her keel broken in two, she had literally just had her back broken by a mine that some fucking U-Boat had laid, and what had she done, she had just stood there, watching and listening to Belfast's cries of agony, secretly praying for Belfast to sink, just to put her out of her pain. But fate had other plans, Belfast hadn't sunk, she had been towed back to Rosyth for repairs, abet temporary ones so that she could survive the tow to Devonport either to have her keel fixed, which would be long and painful or be written off for scrap, not good prospects either way.
"There's nothing we could have done Edi," Came a soft voice from behind, causing Edinburgh to jump in surprise before turning to face Sheffield, who had managed to sneak up on her.
"That's not the point Shef!, our youngest sister just had her back broken in front of us, she might not come back from this!" Edinburgh snapped, the anger that had been stewing in her, finally released, Sheffield however instead of shouting back at her or storming off, surprisingly settled for grabbing Edinburgh and pulling her into an embrace, which caught Edinburgh by surprise, she didn't need a hug, she needed to find the nearest German ship, and kick the crap out of it, why did Sheffield think she needed a hug, and why was her face wet?, it was then Edinburgh realised she was crying, and then Edinburgh, the flagship of the 2nd Cruiser squadron, finally did what Sheffield had known would have inevitably happened, Edinburgh broke down in tears.
"Don't worry Edi, Bel's gonna come back from this, trust me on that, she's got the luck of the Irish after all," Sheffield cooed as Edinburgh sobbed, all the while gently stroking Edinburgh's blond hair, holding her up, rather than back, in an embrace that only a sister could give, all the while wishing her words would come true, for all of their sakes.
May 2nd, 1942 - Arctic Ocean - 08:58Hrs - HMS Edinburgh - Convoy QP11 Escort Force (Flagship)
Luck, Luck was a funny thing, one minute it's in your favour, and the next it's against you, Luck was the best ally and the worst enemy of everybody, Luck was something you took for granted when it was with you, but when it ran out you knew about it, and Edinburgh's luck had just run out. Edinburgh knew this as she struggled to pull herself upright, she was finished, it was a miracle she hadn't sunk yet, she'd been torpedoed 3 times in as many days, A U-boat had been responsible for the first two torpedoes, the first had blown a hole in her port side amidships, but thanks to her crews excellent damage control, all the torpedo had done was caused a heavy list, the second torpedo though had wrecked her steering and propulsion, leaving her practically dead in the water, but again she'd survived, she'd been taken under tow by some of the escorting destroyers, she might have even made it back to Murmansk, abet crippled, Had it not been for the appearance of the three German destroyers sent to finish her off, the resulting battle hadn't been easy, she had only been able to sail in a lazy circle and her three remaining turrets had been firing from manual control, but she had fought hard, her second salvo had even crippled one of the destroyers badly enough that the crew had been forced to scuttle her, but then her luck, despite what had happened in the previous days, finally ran out. A torpedo aimed at another ship had missed its intended mark, had struck her on her starboard side, exactly opposite to where the first torpedo had struck, this was the fatal blow.
Now she was only being held together by her deck and keel at this point, her crew, the crew which had fought to keep her afloat since she'd first been struck were gone, evacuated to the other ships, the only men still aboard her were dead, she was to be their metal tomb in the cold waters of the Arctic, it was the least she could do for them. Looking around Edinburgh could make out the shapes of her escorts, standing out the most were the minesweepers Harrier and Gossamer, their decks packed with her surviving crew, the only other ship of importance was the destroyer Foresight, even though her sinking was an inevitability they couldn't take the chance of leaving her abandoned, not with two destroyers nearby, so they had to finish her off themselves, they had already tried using the guns of Harrier, they'd even tried depth charges to see if they could do the job, but neither attempt had done it, which left it up to Foresight, the only ship left with a torpedo, the job of delivering the coup de grĂ¢ce, not that Foresight wanted the job, as Edinburgh could see from the tears running down the little destroyer's face.
"It's ok Foresight, you're only doing what's necessary" Edinburgh wheezed, even though she was close to the end, she still tried to reassure Foresight that what she had to do was ok, it wasn't Foresights fault that her luck had finally run out. Some just had more luck than others, she wondered how much luck Belfast had left, no other ship had survived having their keel broken and had been able to be repaired, Belfast was probably the luckiest ship in the navy, but her luck couldn't last forever, could it? Edinburgh hoped it could, she hoped her sister could take up the torch she was leaving behind, and she prayed that Belfast wouldn't take her loss to hard, she couldn't bear the thought of Belfast changing from her fun-loving self, the one Edinburgh had known and loved since Belfast had been commissioned.
"I'm sorry Edinburgh" apologized Foresight, as her crew took aim with her remaining torpedo, aiming for near where the previous torpedoes had struck, that was where she was weakest, her crew weren't taking chances with only one torpedo.
"No, I'm sorry that it has come to this" Edinburgh countered, then with a whoosh of compressed air the torpedo launched and began its deadly run towards her.
"I'm sorry Bel, don't cry too much for me" Edinburgh whispered to herself, and then closed her eyes and waited for oblivion.
September 2nd, 1942 - Devonport - 12:22Hrs - HMS Belfast
A lone figure prowled the corridors of HMS Belfast, even had anyone been there, the figure would have remained unseen, humans couldn't see spirits after all. The figure made its way towards the captain's quarters, vacant for nearly three years and the bathroom which lay within, looking into the mirror which hung there the figure stared at the face within, it was a familiar face, one the figure shared with its siblings, long auburn hair hung over its shoulders, and a pair of green eyes, once described as a pair of emeralds stared back, but now they were so dark they looked almost black, a window into Belfast's soul. Whilst her siblings had fought and died for their country, she had been sitting alone, in agony as she was being rebuilt, she'd wept when her oldest sister Southampton had been sunk and had cried when Glouster had been lost, But then she'd lost Edinburgh and instead of tears, came anger, anger that had grown and turned into a lust for blood, German blood, only made worse by the loss of Manchester, another of her sisters, and soon she would get her chance, her years refit had finally come to an end, soon she would be out on the hunt, the hunt for the enemy, only one thing remained to do, one last preparation to make before her crew came aboard her; to the unobservant she still looked as sweet and innocent as she had before that day in 1939, something she intended to rectify. With one hand she seized her hair, and with the other, she summoned a pair of scissors and began cutting until all that remained was a crop of auburn locks, then she put on her new outfit, out went the frilly dress, replaced with a officers jacket, a sweater, a set of men's pants and a pair of leather boots. looking once again in the mirror, Belfast could see that the transformation was complete, she now looked less like a child, and more like someone headed to battle, all the while she savoured the thought of all pain she intended to inflict on those who had taken her sisters from her.
Authors Note
So, this is sort of a proof of concept/primer piece for a future project built off of this one. So, if you like it, or want to give me some constructive criticism it is always welcome.
(P.S I've tried to keep it as historical as possible, but I have had to take some guesses as the info isn't available).
