October 11th, 2020 - New York, USS Intrepid - 09:35 Hrs - HMS Belfast
As Belfast stood at the doorway, joined by Captain Walker, Obama and Bush, along with countless other officers, she could feel knots in what counted for her stomach. Summoning Victory had been an accident, and the other Portsmouth residents, Cavalier and Gannet, had been a rush job with no pomp or ceremony. But here, she was going to be summoning someone she had never met in front of a large, expecting crowd, so she was slightly nervous she would do something wrong, embarrassing or both. Finally, the PA system crackled to life, announcing the officers as they stepped out onto the flight deck, receiving cheers and applause from the audience. They were followed by Bush and Obama, who got even bigger cheers than the officers, leaving only herself and Captain Walker waiting to go.
"You'll do fine Belfast," Walker told her reassuringly, having noticed that Belfast wasn't looking all that confident.
"That's easy for you to say, I'm the one doing the damn thing," Belfast replied as she tried to get herself ready for what lay ahead, just as the announcer came to her on his list.
"...And finally, the one who made all this possible, so please give a warm welcome to the British light cruiser, HMS Belfast," the announcer stated as Belfast emerged through the door, receiving the largest cheers by far, to which she replied to with an awkward wave. She really wasn't ready for this, but she wasn't getting any practice. However, instead of being directed to a vacant chair, the announcer, who was surprisingly a four-star admiral, beckoned for her to take the podium that had been placed in front of the assembled VIP's. Belfast mentally panicked; nobody had mentioned a speech. The only thing like this she'd done since turning up was the press conference in Portsmouth, and that had just been her giving answering questions, lying when necessary. But this would be completely different; she'd be thinking on her feet and hopefully not letting any of secrets out in the process, but once again, she steeled herself as best she could and nervously took the podium.
"Um, thank you for the warm greeting. I'd like to say I prepared a speech, but I didn't get the chance," Belfast began, clearing her head and beginning to think about what she was going to say "I'd like to say how privileged I am to stand here, speaking to all of you; It's a lot more fun than just sitting around talking to myself!" she joked, getting a few chuckles from the audience. "I came into this reality three days ago, exactly how I have no idea, and I'm sure that there are scientists out there trying to answer that question right now. But ever since then I have been warmly welcomed by everyone I've met," Belfast continued, deliberately skipping the confrontation with Agent Spencer the night before, "and all I can say is thank you all, and I hope I can help you in return," she concluded, getting another round of applause which surprised Belfast. Personally, she thought the speech had been terrible.
"Thank you for that. Now, as you know, we are here to summon the first American shipgirl, the first of many we can hope," the admiral continued as Belfast backed away from the podium, "And now if you would do the honours and summon USS Intrepid?" he asked. All eyes fell once more on Belfast, who nodded before she knelt down, something she hoped looked more formal than sitting on Intrepid's deck, closed her eyes and began to concentrate. She felt the transfer back to the spirit realm, opening her eyes to find the deck absent of the carrier in question. But as she got to her feet she felt two arms wrap around her waist and pick her up.
"Awww you're just so cute!" Intrepid squealed as she held Belfast in her arms. Belfast meanwhile gasped as she tried to wiggle out of the carrier's grip.
"Well this is ironic, it's usually the Americans that come to the help of you Brits!" she continued as Belfast finally freed herself and turned to face the carrier, finding a pale-skinned figure with dirty blonde hair, a round face, and wearing a black jacket and khaki shirt and skirt, grinning back at her. "So you're the legendary HMS Belfast. To be honest, I've never heard anything about you before, even Tex didn't tell me anything when I asked," Intrepid noted as she straightened a strand of her hair. Belfast mentally breathed a sigh of relief. Of all the people she'd expected to talk, Texas had been top of that list.
"Yeah, well, there's not much to say really, but I think we should get this over with so the Americans can brief you," Belfast replied trying to get the excitable carrier into the Navy's hands. Intrepid however simply smiled.
"Eh, it doesn't look like they'd mind us taking a few more minutes," Intrepid pointed out, gesturing to the audience watching, who Belfast had only just noticed were almost frozen in place.
"Huh, never noticed that before," Belfast muttered to herself as Intrepid stepped up next to Belfast and rested her hand on the smaller ship.
"You've never noticed that before have you?" Intrepid teased. Belfast quickly brushed Intrepid's hand off of her shoulder before turning to reply.
"Well, I've been a bit distracted to notice," Belfast retorted as she looked around, taking the opportunity to see the slow-moving crowds, the warships in the Hudson, and the planes flying above New York. "Look, I'm not the best at explaining the situation, mostly because I don't really understand it yet myself, but the Navy will have any answers for you, so can we get back to why I'm here?" she asked, getting a sigh from Intrepid.
"If you insist! Is there anything I need to do?" Intrepid asked. Belfast thought quickly, then smiled.
"Yeah, just stand still, smile and wave!" Belfast replied as she let her concentration lapse, and felt herself transfer back to the human realm. She opened her eyes to find Intrepid in front of her, looking perplexed, only for the carrier to jump as a massive cheer broke out, followed by the band breaking into the song, The Liberty Bell, as cameras blazed. But then a new sound began to play, at first drowned out by the sounds. But as more and more heard it, they stopped making noise, until all that remained was that piercing wail, a sound that struck alarm into the minds of those who heard it.
"Air raid!" Several marines shouted as civilians ran for the protection of the interior of the carrier. The intruders screamed into view, a squadron of abyssal craft at wave-top level, which explained how they had got this close undetected, and noticing that there were bombs and torpedos slung under them, identified them as bombers. Seeing this Belfast summoned her rigging and drew her 4-inch guns. Her 40mm's, which she had discovered were mounted on her rigging, whined as they were brought to bear.
"Wait, how did you do that?!" Intrepid asked as she stared at Belfast, not understanding how she had summoned her rigging.
"Just think about it, and order it to be readied for combat. The rest is natural," Belfast replied as she took aim, waiting for her target to be in range before opening up. She sent flak into the lead group, followed by her Bofors and the weapons of the warships, and surprisingly the marines who had drawn weapons themselves.
"Ok, so just think about it and..." Intrepid muttered, concentrating on her rigging and ordering it to summon, only to find a smaller scale version of her flight deck behind her left shoulder, and a navy blue Springfield rifle in her right hand. "What the hell!? what am I supposed to do with this?!" she exclaimed as she stared at the rifle.
"I don't know, figure it out!" Belfast replied, as her guns splashed a target, breaking up the formation. The ships in the harbour, a Ticonderoga and two Arleigh Burkes, shredded the formations, but some abyssal torpedo bombers broke through the screen and were about to make their run, when the Blue Angels, despite being unarmed, dove in, making a mock attack run and scaring them off. But then Belfast's radar picked up surface contacts entering the Hudson, and judging by the way the American ships moved forwards, she realised she hadn't been the only one to detect them. "C'mon, we've got to back the Navy up!" Belfast shouted de-summoning her rigging as she dashed for the stairs down to the waterline, followed by Intrepid, and was about to jump off when Walker called out to them.
"Hey, you might need these!" Walker announced as he pressed an earpiece into both Belfast's and Intrepids hands. "These will let you communicate with the Navy," he explained as both of them inserted the earpieces, hearing the voices of the ships radio operators, which was only for their benefits as the three ships could communicate with their computers.
"Make sure Mary and the kids are ok," Belfast replied, earning a smile from Walker, before she hopped over the side and summoned her rigging, landing on the later below, Intrepid landing alongside her. "Ok you hang back whilst I work the front," she ordered Intrepid as they raced towards the Abyssals.
"Be advised, contacts consist of 2 Ru Class battleships, 4 Tsu Class light cruisers and multiple destroyers of varying types!" a voice informed her over the radio. Belfast sighed; she really wished she still had her torpedoes, but with the Air Force's first responders roaring in, at least she didn't have to worry about threats from the sky.
"Copy that, I'll flank and hit them from the side," Belfast replied. She was about to move ahead when the voice responded to her.
"Wait one-minute ma'am, we're going to thin them out!" the voice explained as the Ticonderoga and Arleigh Burkes opened up with their missiles which raced towards the fleet. Belfast thought it weird, as she'd been told that missiles didn't work, only for parachutes to deploy, allowing the torpedos to drop into the water and make their runs. Seeing this the abyssal destroyers surged forwards, eating most of the barrage, but some slipped through, striking the more important cruisers and battleships, sinking one of the cruisers and crippling one of the battleships. "Multiple targets destroyed, all ships engage!" the voice continued as the Ticonderoga opened fire.
"Copy that, I'll deal with the undamaged battleship, you guys handle the cruisers!" Belfast replied before turning back to Intrepid, "Try and figure out how your rigging works and stay clear of the shooting!" she reminded her as she moved up, targeting the undamaged Battleship and opening fire. The abyssal tried to bring her weapons to bear, but Belfast, with her superior fire control, hit with her first salvo, slamming her first into the Abyssal's head, where Belfast figured the Abyssal's fire control was located, stunning the Abyssal and allowing Belfast to unload multiple salvos into her target. As she was about to send another salvo down range, her radar picked up movement on her flank, turning to find the guns of the damaged battleship trained on her. But before the abyssal could fire, a flight of miniature TBD Avenger torpedo bombers screamed in, dropping torpedoes at the Abyssal, who tried to evade, only for another flight of miniature SB2C Helldivers to dive out of the sun, raining armour piercing bombs down on their target, which combined with the follow up torpedoes, reduced the Abyssal to a sinking wreck.
"Hey, I found out how this works!" Intrepid announced as she shouldered the Springfield and fired a clip, only for the bullets to transform into a flight of Corsair fighters which climbed to engage the Abyssal fighters, before loading a fresh clip of Avengers.
"Nice one, and thanks for the help back there," Belfast replied as she opened up again on the remaining battleship, firing until the Abyssal rolled over and sank into the Hudson.
"All ships ceasefire, ceasefire, all hostiles destroyed," a new voice ordered as the last Abyssal slipped under the water. Looking around Belfast noted the dented bow of the Ticonderoga, with bits of Abyssal smeared down both sides, and the broken turret on its deck. Apparently, the Ticonderoga had rammed one of the cruisers after its gun was disabled and had come off better. The Arleigh Burkes were also damaged, but still had their guns operational, and seeing that the city was unmarked, Belfast could breathe a sigh of relief.
Authors notes
So this should have gone up last year, but I got ill so I'm sorry about it being late, hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you next time.