I woke up in a wonderful mood, the memories from last night still fresh in my mind. I could still hear her whispered words in my ear, feel the soft fabric of her dress on my fingertips, and taste her lips on mine. The world felt vibrant, new, amazing, and I was refreshed and ready to meet any challenge the day brought. That good feeling lasted for about five minutes until the base alarms began to sound. I was already headed for my office when they began to blare, Dunkerque intercepting me on the way. Her hand was on the hilt of her blade and her expression was deadly serious.

"It's the Sardegnians," she announced, falling in step beside me. "They've stationed a fleet just outside the harbor, but they're just sitting there. We're mobilizing everyone we can right now."

I nodded curtly. "Good. I take it this base has a CIC?"

"This way, mon Amiral."

She led me down several flights of stairs and a few bustling hallways before ushering me into Toulon's command and control center. In the center of the room was a massive holotable, the light tinting everything blue as it passively displayed the information being fed into it. The situation, while far from hopeless, didn't look good. It would seem the Sardegnians mobilized their entire fleet for this endeavor, with only Zara and Conte di Cavour missing from the assembled kansen. Score one for Vichya intelligence.

"So what are they waiting for?" I asked aloud as I leaned over the map table, peering at the holographic shipgirls. "They've got us bottled up in here, and they've got the numbers."

Just then, Vaquelin, who was manning the communications section spoke up. "I'm getting a transmission from the Sardegnians. They wish to parley, and have offered to send a single kansen into the harbor to meet at a place of your choosing."

That piqued my interest. "I wonder what they're up to," I muttered, weighing the options. In the end, curiosity won out and I spoke up. "Allow them passage, and to meet us at Dunkerque's pier. Dunkerque, if you will accompany me."

Dunkerque snapped to attention. "As you wish, mon Amiral."

As I strode back out of the room, I called out over my shoulder, "And if they so much as blink wrong, light 'em up with everything we've got."

We stood by the now-empty berth where Dunkerque normally sat, the ship now gone, transformed into the ornate rigging on Dunkerque's back. Her guns were trained on the lone figure that skated across the surface of the harbor, directly towards us. As the figure grew closer, I could make out a battleship's rigging, and green hair billowing behind her. There was only one kansen who fit that description, and I scowled as she pulled up to the dock.

Littorio didn't step onto the pier, simply smiling up at us with that smug, ingratiating grin from the water. We eyed each other for several long seconds, neither of us saying anything. I could see the amusement in her eyes, the confidence brimming from her as she measured me up. All the while, Dunkerque was at my side, her gaze(and her guns) unflinching from the Sardegnian kansen.

"Ammiraglio Holland, I presume?" she said, at last, throwing her arms out in a dramatic flourish. "I am Littorio, sister of Vittorio Veneto, and head of the Sardegnian Navy. I'm here to clear up this terrible misunderstanding that seems to have happened."

My eyebrow slowly raised, and I simply repeated "Misunderstanding?"

She smiled again, all charm as she nodded. "Of course! You see, these signorinas were to be mine. A gift from my friends in the Iron Blood. And now you've gone and taken them from me." She pouted theatrically before putting that roguish smile back on. "An honest mistake, I'm sure. But I, Littorio, am magnanimous and will grant you the opportunity to hand these beautiful shipgirls over to me and leave with some of your dignity intact. I'll even let you leave with all of the ships you came here with." Her good-natured smile twisted and turned dark as her eyes slid over to Dunkerque. "But those Vichya girls are mine."

I didn't even pretend to consider her offer. "I don't think so," I answered coldly. "They aren't yours. They aren't mine, either. They can leave the Azur Lane at any time. In fact, let's ask Dunkerque what she wants to do." I glanced over at the Templar Knight and smiled warmly. "Dunkerque, mon cheri, Littorio here is offering you a spot in the Sardegnian navy. Warm sun, beautiful beaches, really good pasta. You might have to indulge her with the odd swimsuit competition, but you rocked that bikini two days ago so I think you've got a good chance at clinching it. All you gotta do is say yes."

Her response was immediate and colder than ice. "I'd sooner burn a souffle."

I winced and looked back at Littorio, who was none too pleased with the theatrics we were putting her through. "Oof. Guess that's a 'no', then. I do have a counter-proposal, though. You could always surrender. We'd allow you to keep some of your dignity intact."

If looks could kill, Littorio's vengeful stare could have easily murdered the entire base. "Commander," she growled, "There are two types of people in this world: people who cross Littorio and people who aren't dead."

I smiled mock-sweetly at her. "Guess you'll have to change your worldview to include a new type, then. Now get the hell out of my harbor."

For a moment, the debonair, charming mask slipped, and her lips curled back in a snarl, her hand going to her sword hilt. Before she could try anything though, Dunkerque loaded her guns with a loud ka-chunk that echoed across the water. Littorio's eyes flicked over to the Vichya kansen and realized she had taken a step too far. She slowly moved her hand away from her blade and a cold smile replaced her snarl.

"How unfortunate," she said at last. "I had hoped to recover what was mine without force, but I will have them, one way or another. After all, it is a Pawn's duty to serve their queen!" With a flourish of her cape, she spun around and sped off back to her waiting fleet.

I waited for her to be out of earshot before letting out a long sigh of relief, Dunkerque finally lowering her guard as well. I looked over at her and shot her as confident a grin as I could muster. "That went well," I quipped.

She chuckled once and smiled thinly in return. "About as well as we could expect. Do you really think they have swimsuit competitions over there?"

I shrugged. "She's asked a few of the Royal Navy girls about it during standoffs and negotiations. Mostly Illustrious. Don't know if they actually do it or if she just wants to parade women in swimsuits in front of her for her own amusement. Would you really rather burn a souffle?"

She looked me dead in the eye, her expression as cold as I've ever seen it, and said, "I would burn an entire bakery's worth of souffles before I ever surrender myself or my sisters to them. They would willingly make slaves of us, or condemn us to a fate worse than death. As far as I am concerned, they can all go to hell."

It was the angriest I'd ever seen her, before or since, and quite frankly it was terrifying. And not at the barely concealed rage, a tremble barely held in check, nothing like that. She was ice-cold. A frigid, implacable fury that snuffed out any of her passions, replacing it with a single-minded determination to punish those responsible for her anger. For a moment, I almost pitied the Sardegnians. Almost.

"Remind me to never get on your bad side," I finally said, repressing a shudder. "In any case, you should probably go and join the others in preparation for the assault."

"Non."

For a moment, I stared at her, dumbstruck. I wondered if this was an Iris Orthodoxy thing, where all orders are construed as "helpful suggestions"? "Pardon?" I replied.

"Non," she repeated. "I will stay by your side." As soon as I opened my mouth to object, she cut me off. "It is my sworn duty to protect you. How can I do that if I'm not even close to you?"

"By making sure the Sardegnians don't make it into the harbor," I countered, trying to suppress my growing frustration. "Look, we're already down a battleship and a battlecruiser."

"You have King George V to make up for it, and they do not have Vittorio Veneto or Conti de Cavour" she shot back. "Besides, how much training have you had on Iris Orthodoxy command and control systems?"

It irritated me to no end that the Vichya girls were beginning to make a habit of not only rejecting my orders, but doing so with logical and valid arguments. "None," I begrudgingly admitted. "But don't you want to help fight for your home?"

"Of course I do!" she shot back, taking a deep breath to steady herself as her expression softened. "All our fates are in your hands, mon Amiral, and the best way to fight for my homeland is to be at your side, guiding you, protecting you. Upholding the vows that I have sworn."

When I looked in her eyes, I could see there would be no escaping this. Her resolve was implacable, her logic unassailable, and her desire unwavering. She would be at my side, no matter what. And I found it strangely comforting to see that in her eyes, even with a major battle looming. In the end, I relented. "Alright. I can't deny your logic. Or your devotion. Let's hurry up and get back to the operations center."

By the time we made it back to the CIC, Littorio had rejoined her fleet and was beginning to deploy them into three groups. We had little time before the assault began, but fortunately, our forces were beginning to shift, taking up opposing positions. Dunkerque quickly relieved Vaquelin, who bolted for the exit as the battlecruiser moved the radio to the holotable.

"Alright, Littorio's going to be looking to subdue and capture as many kansen as possible, and outright kill us all only as a last resort," I remarked as I studied the map. "We're going to need to watch out for feints and attempts to encircle isolated kansen. Have the girls move into a closer formation around Jean Bart's drydock."

Dunkerque looked up from the map at me, puzzlement in her eyes. "Why Jean Bart?"

"It's a pressure point I'm sure Littorio will try to exploit," I explained, not looking away from the map. "She'll want to keep Jean Bart in a state of disrepair, maybe even finish her off, keep her off the battlefield for as long as possible. And by focusing on her, she's hoping we'll split our defenses even further, making it easier to divide and conquer."

"And what about stray shells hitting Jean Bart?"

"That's a risk we'll have to take," I sighed. "I'd rather she take a few stray shots than her getting pummelled as she sits there undefended."

She was clearly unhappy about the idea, but nodded curtly and got back to work. I waited for her to finish issuing my last set of orders before speaking up again. "Where are our patrols?"

The map pulled back quickly as her hands flew over the controls. I made a mental note to get some lessons on this thing once this was all over. Now was not the time for on the job training. "Bearn, Le Malin, and Le Triomphant are to the southwest, here," she answered, a red blip pulsing just off the coast of the Orthodoxy. "And Le Terrible and Tartu are still en route to North Africa following…" her voice caught, and I looked up just in time to see her compose herself. "Following Strasbourg's last route. They're keeping radio silence until they've escorted Strasbourg to a safe location."

My heart went out to her, and I reached over to take her hand in mine. This was probably neither the time nor the place, but I honestly didn't care. When she glanced at me, I gave her a reassuring smile and squeezed her hand. "Hey, it'll be okay. We'll find her, I promise."

"Merci, Amiral," She smiled back and returned the squeeze with one of her own before turning the conversation back to the battle at hand. "What do you want to do about the patrols?"

I glanced back at the map and made a snap decision. "Leave Le Terrible and Tartu out there. We don't even know where they are and if it comes down to two destroyers being the lynchpin of our defense, it's already too late. As for Bearn and her escorts, have her move to strike range, but to stay well clear of the battle. Airstrikes only. And if the Sardegnians even look their way, to clear out immediately."

As Dunkerque worked quickly to encode and transmit those orders, the Sardegnians on the holomap began to move, little flashes from their guns indicated they had begun to open fire. "Here we go," I muttered, flicking on an open channel. "All forces, fire at will. Protect the harbor at all costs!"

A chorus of assents echoed over the comm as my own kansen began to move out, returning long-range shots with deadly accuracy. Warspite, in particular, managed to score a couple of direct hits on Giulio Cesare yet again, sending her flying back in a cloud of smoke and flame. She didn't stay down, however, getting back up and letting loose with a thunderous volley that obscured her in smoke once more. Her counter fire was less accurate, the shells splashing down harmlessly and doing little than getting the defenders a little wet.

However, it was just not Giulio's day, as the other battleships saw an opportunity and pounced. Richelieu and King George V switched targets, now hammering the older Sardegnian battleship with volley after volley of heavy shellfire. Smoke, flame, and pillars of water completely blocked her from view, and I was legitimately surprised to see her still alive when everything cleared. Her rigging, however, was in shambles and she began to retreat back through the Sardegnian line.

"Let her go," I ordered, wanting to make sure nobody decided to give chase and lose sight of the actual objective. "Switch targets to the mass-produced models." I peered at the enemy kansen for a moment, then gave up and asked Dunkerque "Can we detect if any of these Sardegnians are Pawns?"

A surprised look crossed her face as she pondered the same question for a moment, then nodded. "We should be able to," she began slowly as her fingers danced over the controls again. "Yes! With the data from Azur Lane, we can isolate the Pawn's signatures and identify them remotely."

"Good. Get to work on that while they make short work of the mass-produced models."

"Oui, Amiral."

While Dunkerque began her work, I watched the battle unfold on the holotable. Honestly, this was the part I hated about my job the most. Not the long hours, the endless reports, the mountains of paperwork, even handling the more...strong-willed kansen like Taihou and Roon, none of it compared to this point. All I could do was watch and wait. Sure, I could issue orders, guide them in the right direction, but at this point, it was all on them and luck. If something went wrong, if a lucky shot took one of them out, there's nothing I could do but watch in horror, and it tore me up every single time. I glanced over at Dunkerque, still working the console, and pondered if I should try to have more faith.

Suddenly, half the holotable was engulfed in a massive conflagration, gigantic orange and black fireball consuming half the Sardegnian fleet, snapping me out of my reverie. "What the hell was that?!" I exclaimed, quickly checking the status readouts on our own shipgirls. I allowed myself a small sigh of relief when I saw everyone was still in relatively good health.

"Looks like a torpedo salvo from Surcouf ignited a magazine for one of the mass-produced Vittorio Venetos," Dunkerque said with no small amount of pride in her voice. "Impressive work on her part. And I have identified the Pawns in the Sardegnian fleet."

"Excellent!" I said with a broad smile. "Great work, Dunkerque! Get that information to the fleet and patch me through to Richelieu."

She flipped several switches and nodded to me. "You're on, Amiral."

I nodded back and addressed the Cardinal directly. "Richelieu, this is Admiral Holland, we've ID'd the Pawns in the Sardegnian fleet. Destroy with maximum prejudice."

"Understood, Commandant!" Richelieu's voice crackled over the speakers. "Algerie, take Jeanne and handle the Pawns to the west! Saint Louis, you and La Galissonnaire will handle the pawns to the east! I will handle the Pawns in the center. All other forces, provide covering fire! In the name of liberty, all ships, commence attack! Vive la Orthodoxy!"

"Vive la Orthodoxy!" came the assembled cry across the open channel. And from right next to me in the room. When I looked over at Dunkerque, she blushed furiously and shrugged.

"Qoui? I love my homeland," she blurted out, and I couldn't help but find her beyond cute at that moment.

"And I love your enthusiasm, Dunkerque," I grinned and turned my attention back to the battle. The cruisers had begun to fan out, moving to meet the Pawns as they charged forward. Strangely, they held their fire, instead holding their swords, axes, and maces aloft, looking to make this a much more personal engagement. Whether it was merely to make a point to the Sardegnians or they thought Dunkerque's engagement with one proved their weakness in close combat, I never knew, but they charged in with near-reckless abandon(although, with La Galissonnaire, it probably was just full-on reckless abandon). The Sardegnians, clearly aware of the kansen's intentions, opened fire with everything they had. They got a few hits in, one particularly heavy volley staggering Saint Louis, but the heavy cruiser recovered and charged back in. In the end, there was simply no stopping them as they crashed into the enemy ranks.

Jeanne's blade flashed, Algerie's mace crushed, Saint Louis' spear pierced, and La Galissonaire's axe whirled in a circle of destruction as they swiftly dispatched their opponents. While Pawns may be dangerous against mass-produced units, they proved to be no match for the kansen they were based on. Slower and less skilled, they barely put up any resistance before they were cut down, rigging smashed and severed as they toppled over like a puppet without its strings.

Richelieu, however, took a different track. Her head bowed in silent prayer, her guns methodically tracked a single Pawn, then fired a single, devastating volley. The Pawn would disappear in a massive explosion, the bits of steel and rigging cartwheeling away the only signs that anything had once been there when the smoke cleared. Her guns would shift, track, and fire again. Methodical, relentless, over and over again. Shift, track, fire, shift, track, fire. Every time she would take out a Pawn. And all the while Warspite thundered away with her massive guns, Ark Royal swooped in on any opportunistic Sardegnian who dared get too close to any of the Iris girls, and Foxhound boldly dropped torpedo salvos at near point-blank range to disrupt enemy formations.

And it was working. One by one, the Pawns were falling and the kansen were being kept in check. In the end, the Sardegnians simply wouldn't have the numbers to clinch any kind of victory. Littorio had to realize that soon enough, and from there, make one of two choices-flee or stand and fight to the bitter end. I intended to force that decision on her sooner rather than later. "Bring in Bearn's fleet," I ordered. "Have them assault any Sardegnian ship they come across, but don't pursue them out of the harbor."

"Aye, mon Amiral," Dunkerque answered, moving to encode the message.

"Don't bother encrypting it."

She stopped and looked up at me as if I'd lost my mind. "On an open channel, are you serious?"

I nodded, looking over at Dunkerque to meet her gaze. "I want them to know we're coming for them. She's gotta know she's running out of bodies, and before long, she's going to have to make a last stand or run for it. I'm forcing that choice on her now."

Her eyes stared into mine for a few moments, sizing me up before she nodded slowly. "Understood. Sending now."

Even from the holotable, I could see Littorio's stance change, tensing up as she realized she was about to be caught in a trap. I watched the tiny representation of the kansen wrestle with her options before spinning on her heel and withdrawing from the harbor, any surviving ships quickly following her, laying down cover fire to discourage any pursuit.

I also didn't want anyone chasing after them and ordered, "All forces, stand down. Let them go, for now." I waited to hear everyone acknowledge the order before adding, "Job very well done, people. Couldn't have asked for a better result. Let's regroup and get on damage control."

I let out a long sigh and glanced over at Dunkerque, who was beaming at me. Her joy was infectious, and I couldn't help but smile back at her. We'd just won what would become known as the Second Battle of Toulon, and I was elated, but in the back of my mind, I knew Littorio would be back. Stopping her, however, would be much easier said than done…

A/N-And there we are, my first antagonist! Since historically speaking, the Vichy French ships were supposed to go to the Italians(and a few actually did...sort of), I decided to make our antagonist Sardegnian and Littorio is simply a much more entertaining villain than Vittorio Veneto. Hopefully you all enjoyed her appearance here. Until next time, fair winds and following seas!