The morning came faster than expected with an early rush to wake up and prepare for today's activities. Gabriel, with a helpful hand from Eugen, dressed quickly to beat the majority of the base to the mess hall. There wasn't a lot of time to eat so a quick bite was more than enough to send him on his way to the office. The best part of waking up early was the fact the walkways were open and allowed Gabriel to simply focus on the tasks on hand.

Step one, send that request back to Adams to have Cleveland come back for rigging tests. Step two, oversee the preliminary Muse experiments and gauge the effectiveness for combat purposes. Step three, begin the counseling sessions with Richilieu and Jean Bart. If he could get all those done, there should be some time for some more leisurely activities.

There was only one particular problem with his first task. One arm that was still supposed to be resting and not partake of any work. "Fuck, there goes my idea of starting the morning ahead of schedule." Yet, Gabriel began to consider breaking Vestal's rules just for this one simple task. He couldn't stand sitting there at his desk without any work of his own yesterday.

"It should be fine. I'm just writing up a quick request. Vestal wouldn't be able to notice so long as nobody sees me." The Admiral looked towards the office door, tuning his ears to listen in on anyone outside the door but no sounds arose. Feeling confident that he wouldn't be seen, he slowly took his right arm out of the sling. Delicately, Gabriel grabbed a nearby pen and winced as soreness responded to his actions. Even so, that wouldn't be enough to deter him from completing this task on his own.

Testing his arm with a few scribbles of words, Gabriel got to it. Words flowed onto the paper with every twitch. The sound of pen laying down territory was no more than a hushed whisper within the silent chamber. No distractions could hold him back. This task will be done even if God himself were to put an obstacle.

Until the door was suddenly kicked open by Hornet, "Morning Gabe! How was the trip to England?"

The sudden intrusion was enough to give Gabriel a minor scare before replacing it with slight annoyance at his visitor. "It was fine, besides being shot in the shoulder. Plenty of places to visit with all that rich history." Without skipping another beat, he went back to writing the request.

"For someone who got shot weeks ago, you're acting okay." Hornet grinned as she sat opposite of him, "So, did you and Hood tie the knot already? You know, after you two got engaged during Christmas."

The pen stopped for a moment. Briefly, Gabriel's cheeks warmed up but he held his nerves in place, "No...Come to think of it, I don't think there was ever any hints as to a wedding. Where did you hear that from?"

"I just assumed." Hornet answered, leaning back into the chair. "If I were in Hood's position, I would have gotten a wedding ready and made it the star of the trip. Oh well, maybe Hood wants to keep the wedding here at port for everyone to notice."

Gabriel blushed again as that remark was more than enough to get his mind off of his request. Had Wraith not entered the whole picture, would the Royal Navy have held a wedding for him and Hood? If so, then that would explain why Sheffield asked him to free his schedule. It was all a set of dominos to lead up to a wedding in the most subtle way possible. But, that didn't explain why Sheffield smiled that one time.

Unless it was also a ruse to have him agree on the trip. In that case, it was a well devised trick from the best spy within the Royal Navy.

Nevertheless, Gabriel pressed on in his formal request. "Maybe, I haven't asked her nor has she mentioned anything about it. It would be a bit tiresome for me to be injured if we had a wedding soon."

"Ah, you'll be fine. If you're already back to writing now, a month will be more than enough to get you back to normal." Hornet rose from her seat, moving over to the windows to open them up. The fresh morning breeze rushed in as her golden hair lightly flowed with the wind. "Speaking of that stuff, how's the progress with the other factions? I just saw Akagi looking a bit more giddy than usual so I'm thinking you might have done something."

"Akagi being more giddy?" Gabriel asked with a raised brow until yesterday's events came to mind. "Oh that, I was talking to my mother yesterday after not being able to communicate for years. You know, military protocols and such. She must have heard what we were discussing."

"And she's probably plotting something with that information." The carrier looked back at him, "Out of the Sakura girls, who can you see yourself marrying right now?"

Gabriel stopped writing to register the question with thoughts about the three women he was currently in a relationship with. There was Takao who was easy to fluster despite her calm warrior demeanor. Then there was Shoukaku where he had an intimate night with and spent the most amount of time with. Lastly, there was Akagi where most of the affection was one sided but he couldn't deny her feelings. The answer was obvious yet Gabriel couldn't help but think about how the other two would react.

Even if the agreement was lenient, there was no conceivable way to stop any potential drama. "Shoukaku, her and I have a pretty close relationship. If it wasn't her, Takao would be the closest."

A cheshire smile appeared on Hornet's face, one that Gabriel hated to see. "So you're into dating the eldest sisters? Maybe I should hook you up with Yorktown."

"Hornet, with all due respect, that is false." The Admiral reminded her, "Z23 and Tirpitz are younger than their siblings."

"True, but Baltimore and Eugen are the oldest in their family. It seems to be a trend with you so I think you and Yorktown would be cute together. Unless, you're more into Enterprise."

"I can assure you that I have no romantic feelings for Enterprise."

"Then how's the progress with the other her?" Hornet asked, tilting her hat up so Gabriel could get a clear view of her emerald eyes. "It's nice that she looks more like herself but I haven't seen her around since you all came back."

Gabriel answered back with some hesitation, "Probably fixing her rigging. She and Ember protected me from a hailstorm of bullets at the cost of some major repairs. Someone from her timeline must have triggered some bad memories or whatever he said is still affecting her."

"If you say so. In the meantime, I'll go ahead and talk to Yorktown about this weekend unless you're heading out somewhere." The carrier said, grinning ear to ear for a reaction

She got what she wanted when Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose. "Hornet, your sister is a beautiful woman but I am not interested."

"Alright, then who would it be?" The relentless assault was not abiding by the looks of it. "I'm just looking out for you. Make this whole agreement easier for you by hooking you up for potential matches."

"Like some sort of matchmaker?"

"Exactly."

Gabriel sighed knowing full well that Hornet was going to get an answer out of him or at least something to begin her little matchmaking. If he was just looking at the Eagle Union girls, there were some good picks to at least attempt to date. The only problem with that was he wasn't very close with many of them unlike his current roster. If Hornet really wanted someone to set him up with, then he might as well shoot.

Then an idea came to his head that might just flip the board. "Alright Hornet, I know a good spot on the island that's relatively remote. Let's head there this weekend."

It was as if someone had knocked off all the pieces on the board. Hornet's advantage was immediately reversed as the carrier sat there in astonishment. True, while Gabriel never really considered Hornet suitable to date in the past, they were close friends. Especially so since she was honest about how she felt in any given situation. She did have a motto she lived by.

It was only after recovering from her shock that Hornet responded. "What? Me? Are you sure that injury isn't affecting your head?"

He had a response for that. "I'm mentally fine and I'm serious with what I said." Gabriel rose from his seat after placing the last words in his request. "Now, I need to have this sent to Commander Adams and get to testing the Muse. See you this weekend."

He didn't give the carrier a chance to talk when he left the office right after. Hornet shook her head before chuckling in amusement, "What goes in that head of yours, Gabe? I guess I'll never know."


A mailed letter later and the Admiral was heading towards the tech lab for his next activity. Plenty of time before his eventual counseling session with Richilieu and Jean Bart so it would be wise to get as much data today for future tuning. Just as he was walking down the road to the tech lab, Gabriel spotted the lone Gascogne standing outside the building with rigging engaged. Similar to Baltimore, speakers were arrayed on her rigging as well but only a couple compared to a handful. Oddly enough, some sort of virtual display appeared around the battleship's rigging with rising and falling columns.

"Gascogne," Gabriel began to Gascogne's attention, "How has the acclimation process gone with your new rigging?"

Gascogne, robotically, answered back. "Acclimation process is complete. No signs of errors or distortions in any form. Warning, new weapons platform is experimental at best. Take caution with potential failures."

"Good to hear?" Gabriel muttered dryly, left more doubtful with that information. "Has anyone else received their rigging?"

"Affirmative. Admiral Hipper-Class Cruiser, designation Hipper, is receiving her new rigging for testing purposes." The sounds of drills whirring inside the building and the occasional flash of light only proved the kansen's statement.

"Just call her Hipper, no need for the unnecessary info. Referring to everyone by their class makes you sound like a machine." Gabriel wished that there was some sort of module or upgrade he could put into the priority ship just so she could talk normally. Her lack of emotion was irking him with how soulless she appeared to be. If Gascogne were to perform with that kind of behavior, it would be a terrible image for them all. Not everyone considered the girls as human but mere weapons to wield.

"Acknowledged." Gascogne's eyes shifted to her hands, scanning over them as if they were foreign. She experimented by touching her fingers together, brows furrowing at the sensation of her skin contacting with skin. "Maitre, Gascogne is currently experiencing confusion with the removal of her armored gauntlets. State reason for the removal."

"Did Akashi not tell you?" Gabriel replied. "It would be awkward for any of you to still be wearing anything in forms of armor or weapons. Besides, it makes you more human."

"Clarify."

"Relatable, having some form of emotion that makes you less alien. You may be a ship that was never built but I doubt you're incapable of being a bit more 'normal' so to speak."

Gascogne looked up at Gabriel, her eyes shimmering when the light touched them. "Maitre, please establish a link with Gascogne. Future data is required for this unit to understand emotions."

"Sure." Gabriel smiled although the wording was confusing. If that was Gascogne's way of asking for his assistance, then he was happy enough to provide. However, the word 'link' was an odd choice for the battleship to make. Oh well, it can be overlooked.

Except, the kansen stood there looking at him as if expecting something. Did she want an order or was she awaiting him to begin the tests? No body cues gave Gabriel any hints to what Gascogne desired but his eyes noted the metal 'ears' on her head. Did those work like Roon's metallic fins? Considering that both were priority ships, the possibility was very likely and might make it easier for his task.

"Gascogne? How do you want me to establish a link with you?" Gabriel asked after the wait was staying longer than it should have.

The Vichya Kansen blinked, gesturing to her metal appendages attached to her head. "Please grab primary sensors gently. Warning, do not assume sensors are similar to those of Sakura Empire animal features."

Slowly, Gabriel followed the instructions with his right hand. The soreness made him flinch but he light touched one of Gascogne's sensors. Similar to Roon, Gabriel felt like his senses went dim momentarily but he did not faint nor get transported into the kansen's mind. Instead, he felt his body freeze up while Gascogne's eyes shrunk. "Establishing link...Link complete."

Gabriel took a sharp breath once his body was unfrozen, glad to be moving again. Whatever link Gascogne was mentioning seemed to not change anything. Either way, there was testing to be done. "Gascogne, prepare your rigging for an exercise. I'll be having you and Hipper give me some preliminary results to work with."

That snapped the kansen straight as her gaze broke from him. "Acknowledged, maitre. May Gascogne make a request?"

"What would that be?" Gabriel wondered

Gascogne's answered, "Please let Gascogne provide assistance to counseling session of battleship Jean Bart. Ally's emotional state is less stable as of now, recommendation to have Gascogne present during counseling."

Did Gabriel even have to answer that? It should be obvious that family should be involved in familial matters. He wasn't sure what sort of assistance Gascogne could provide other than preventing Jean from getting violent. Even so, the lead Vichya battleship knew discipline well enough to keep a cool head. Unless, Gascogne intended to be there as some form of way for Jean Bart to come to terms with Richilieu. It was a wild card but valuable if he could play it right.

"Very well," Gabriel said, giving in to the request. "You may accompany me during the session. Now where is Hipper?" Once the matters were over, he finally had a moment to notice the lack of noise coming from the tech lab.

On cue, his sister-in-law stepped out. "I'm done already. Now let's get these stupid tests over with so I can go back to my regular rigging."

"If only it were simply tests I had to conduct." With Hipper and Gascogne equipped with their new riggings, it was a quick trip to the testing range at the beach. While the trip there didn't take long considering the tech lab was quite close to the beach, one would note that Hipper's rigging didn't quite look all that different. In fact, it looked almost entirely the same as her normal rigging unlike Gascogne's more obvious modifications. "Hipper, anything to report about the new system?"

The shark-like rigging opened their mouths to display a single speaker in each of the mouths as the heavy cruiser answered. " Mm, just these amplifiers and I feel different putting it on...I can't say how to explain it."

"Gascogne's behavior core has been tweaked in response to new subroutines. Emotions as 'desire' have appeared several times but unknown as for intent." Gascogne's sudden information was more than enough to make Gabriel a bit uneasy. The priority ship was already mysterious with her robotic ways but having a vague addition to her behavior was grounds for trouble considering what kind of port he ran.

"Right...I think we'll simply keep it as your rigging pushing your musical orientation. I don't think the brass would have that sort of mistake in the coding." Gabriel turned towards the targets in front of them, having been replaced on a constant basis by the manju, "Alright, the test for initial live fire exercise will begin now. Fire at will."

Even with his years of hearing different caliber batteries firing near his vicinity, Gabriel made sure to bring some ear protection. On his command, Gascogne and Hipper immediately fired their main batteries with immediate results. On Hipper's side, her shells were morphed into a red musical note that kept the velocity of her original shells. On Gascogne's side, her shells came out blue and likewise, formed a musical note before impacting the target. The targets were massacred in an instant but considering their intended purpose was to be, Gabriel was not informed much.

"Musical notes instead of normal shells? Yet, they impact just the same to dummies. What kind of effect would they have on actual enemies? Only way to know is with a live fire mock skirmish with the others," Gabriel thought. There weren't Sirens to test the new equipment on and High Command couldn't afford to keep sending mass produced ships to just be blown to smithereens. The girls were going to have to fight each other with their new equipment for a more concise report. "Gascogne, can you radio for the rest of the girls using the Muse system? I need them at the docks for an exercise."

"Already done," Gascogne stated.

Thus, the trio left towards the docks to rendezvous with the others. Once there, Gabriel could see the modifications to the rigging, except for Akagi who had magical rigging. Roon's rigging was similar to Hipper's but with two keyboards protruding from armored plates. There were more on the list and it only made the Admiral wonder what changes would be implemented in comparison.

There was testing to be conducted, however. "I don't have to explain everything since Z23 should have given you the reports. I'll keep it brief, we're going to have an exercise with your new rigging so I can send the Admiralty some combat data. As much as this was supposed to fight Sirens, we don't have any to destroy. Therefore, you'll split into two teams and spar with each other. Any questions?"

Sheffield was the first to raise her hand, "If I may inquire, Master, is this truly a weapon to fight the Sirens or was this simply an excuse for other means?"

It really was that obvious, wasn't it? Z23 could read between the lines so Sheffield should also be able to notice the ludicrous hidden reason behind the project. Come on, who would call the experimental rigging Muse? "A mix of both. Let's just say that research proves idols can raise the moods of people after they lose those close to them. So, we got assigned the duty of entertaining them."

"Is this going to be another performance for the cameras?" Hipper grumbled, "They could at least try something different this time around."

If only she knew what was going to happen. Gabriel answered, "I'm afraid to say that we'll have a higher budget with full productions like most performers. That also means there will be tens of thousands of people on this base on top of the broadcast."

"HUH?!" All the girls, minus Sheffield and Gascogne, exclaimed. Gabriel should have expected this but he couldn't help but mentally cringe at their shock. There weren't many who actually set foot on the naval base but for thousands of individuals to be arriving at some point, it must be a shocker for the personnel. The only relief is that it would mostly be military with their families.

"That's right, it was in the plans. Good news is that we'll have more than enough time before then and considering we are missing quite a few individuals who would be testing the Muse, the show won't be starting for quite some time." Gabriel added, "Anyhow, let's proceed with the exercise. Akagi, Roon, and Hipper will make one team while the rest of you will form the other. No live ammunition and limit your offensive abilities."

With an affirming nod, Gabriel watched as the girls took to the seas. He had a notepad and pen in hand to begin writing the results since he doubted that he could remember everything. Not that he was a very forgetful person...but it was always good to make some notes to be safe. Even so, there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind about all this.

As the girls reached a relatively safe point to begin their mock battle, Baltimore felt a bit uneasy as she looked towards Roon. "Her rigging was large before but I think it's even bigger now. What is it with Ironbloods and large riggings on their heavier units?"

"I believe the Ironblood have a tendency to place the highest caliber guns they can on their units. As a result, they are compensating for their low numbers." Sheffield noted, her turrets turning to aim towards her opponents.

Hipper cracked her knuckles in response, "Remember Roon, this is a mock battle. Don't get excited you get to fight someone your size."

Roon only smiled, but that smile made Hipper flinch as there was a certain aura about it. "Of course, they are our allies after all. I will go after the Vichya battleship while you can contend with the light cruiser."

"Then I will have to take on Baltimore myself? Hm, this will be interesting." Akagi murmured to herself, her rigging magically sparking to life.

The first shot came from Gascogne, blue musical notes firing off from her first turret which forced the opposition to scatter. Sheffield took the lead by engaging Hipper with her weapons firing off quickly, although she did not have her trust sidearms. Naturally, Hipper summoned her shields to block the incoming rounds while firing off several volleys of her own. A few of the rounds turned into red musical notes like before but were evaded by the maid.

"Hold still!" One of Hipper's shells managed to graze Sheffield and explode violently. Had these been live ammunition, who knows what damage it could have done. Thankfully, they were just using a low yield.

But Sheffield retaliated with another barrage of shells. This time, one of her salvos turned blue and punched right through Hipper's shields. "It seems that we are armed to make up for our weaknesses. Although temporary, the change in ammunition is valuable."

"I can have an easier time taking out light armored targets while you can fight against heavy armor. It sounds good, but this rigging is uncomfortable." Hipper said, firing off her torpedos that remained unchanged.

While those two duked it out, Gascogne focused on suppressing Roon's advance on her. Unlike with Sheffield, Gascogne's turrets had more than enough punching power to rip right through Roon's shields. She didn't even need the changing ammunition to be effective, although it was beneficial. The only drawback was that she was slower than Roon and her turrets needed time to reload. As a result, the Vichya prototype ship had to fire her secondaries continuously when her main batteries had fired.

Taking this advantage, Roon pressed her attack while using her single red shield to block the secondary fire. In some sort of berserker rage, Roon got into melee range and slammed the shield into Gascogne. Surprisingly, which Gabriel took note of, there was a small amount of battle damage on her dress. "Aha, I like my new gear. Now I can bash Sirens to death while protecting myself."

"Minor damage sustained." Gascogne stated, "Roon's offensive shield leads to more aggressive tactics. Current turrets are firing at twenty percent more rapidly. Proceeding with combat exercise." The next salvo from Gascogne came out in blue, crashing through Roon's shields and damaging the heavy cruiser.

Finally, Baltimore was weaving out of the way of several bombers trying to drop their payloads on top of her. In normal circumstances, she would have some issues dodging the swarms of fighters harassing her but not in this case. The few times she was able to fire at Akagi had seen her ammunition turned red and her speed increasing dramatically. It was like someone had inserted an overcharge into her rigging without warning.

"Akagi, is it just me or have you been launching more dive bombers?" Baltimore questioned, several more bombs falling near her and shooting geysers of water into the air.

Another squadron was heading towards the heavy cruiser when Akagi heard the question. Looking upwards, she noticed several more bombers magically joined the squadron shortly after launch. "It seems so. Hm, I don't remember being able to send that many."

From the port, Gabriel observed the mock battle while overhearing the conversations over the radio. The notes he was able to gather were bearing much fruit in understanding the new system and he would need some time to give his input. Plenty of time to do that.

After all, he had a few hours to spare.


Gabriel was back at his office going over the various notes he had taken during the skirmish. The whole exercise was more than a learning experience to what the scientists had in mind for their proposed experiment. Some of the girls stayed relatively the same besides the changes to their ammunition that still confused him. Roon stood out the most out of the current members with her normally defensive shield turned into an offensive threat, a change that greatly benefitted her. The most telling feature of all was that ability of different factions to synergize and benefit each other easier than before.

In a musical sense, each Kansen equipped with the Muse System was effectively a single player in a group. The cons to this whole system were how on an individual basis, some were weaker compared to their original rigging. But, so long as he could have them sortie together, their deficiencies would be eliminated. The whole effectiveness of the Muse System was already not looking that great in practice, save for Roon.

Gabriel would need to send some feedback to the eggheads back at HQ to make some adjustments. As far as he was concerned, the girls were better off with their current rigging but some tweaks could make the platform viable.

Thankfully, a knock on his door broke his concentration. "Come in."

Richelieu entered the office, closing the door behind her as the counseling was about to begin. "God bless you for your consideration, Amiral Harper. I prayed that my appearance wouldn't upset Jean Bart that much, but I was sorely mistaken."

"Thank you for attending, Your Eminence." Gabriel stood up and shook the battleship's hand before he gestured for her to sit down. "As it has come to my attention, Jean Bart is still holding onto the past. As much as she has tolerated the Royal Navy, seeing you has opened old wounds of hers. I already heard her side of the story, I want to hear it from your perspective."

"Of course." Richelieu averted his gaze momentarily, eyes towards the floor when memories of that incident occurred. Small movements like her lips pursing and the grip of her bible tightening only indicated more to the story. "I never told Jean that I too was betrayed. Shortly after Mers-el-Kabir, I took the remnants of the Iris to rendezvous at Dakar. The Royal Navy then bombarded our positions for days shortly after giving threats for my surrender. It was a chaotic time for me, Amiral."

"I was told that Dakar was under the influence of the Ironbloods and the Royal Navy simply wanted to ensure you or the Templar Knights didn't join them." Gabriel replied, hands clasped together on his desk while tuned in to the Cardinal's confession. Odd of him, a military officer getting a confession out of a religious figure.

"So it seems. In either case, I forgave the Royal Navy for their attacks. When I had heard the Eagle Union launched an assault that involved Jean Bart, I was given the option to join and hopefully convince her to stand down. I believe you know the rest."

Gabriel nodded, "I heard the broadcast you gave. It was a good thing the Eagle Union only knocked out Jean, despite her putting up a fierce resistance. From what I heard, she considered everyone as invaders and took quite a position of leadership."

"So did Algerie," Richilieu said, taking a moment to breathe. "I know how it is to be betrayed, but I don't understand while all her anger is directed at me."

"You simply may be a reminder of those times. It's easy to put any ill feelings on a singular object or person that reminds someone of bad times." Gabriel then asked, "How would you describe your interactions with your sister before all the conflict?"

"Peaceful." Richelieu answered, "I was very close to all the members of the Templar Knights, I'm sure Dunkerque could tell you. Me and Jean would spend much time together, almost daily but she always was a rebel. It's in her nature and the name she bears."

Gabriel let the information flow through, processing every little bit. How could an older sister be so close to her sibling one moment and then have that sibling resent them the next? Jean Bart explained it as a betrayal but it couldn't be just that. Even someone like her would learn that it wasn't entirely Richilieu's fault nor the Royal Navy's. Just some very bad decision made on everyone's part that led to the mess. So...then what was it?

"Was Jean a leader of the Templar Knights when you weren't in direct command? Sort of like a second in command?" Gabriel asked, ready to tread some unknown waters in hopes of finding a resolution.

Richelieu nodded, "Oui. She's a born leader and she never disappointed me. Not even when she took on the Eagle Union by herself with only one turret. Algerie would have been a better choice due to Jean's incomplete ship, but I believed she had it in her."

"You're not wrong on that." Not the answers he hoped for but good information to build the case. Maybe Jean Bart would give more clues when he got to talk to her directly. This would not be an easy road to go through. "How do you feel about Gascogne? Considering she was never built by the time of the war and being the only other Richilieu-class on base."

"I'm unsure. My only experience with her was through battle and she seems very inhuman to me at first." Richelieu sighed, "It wouldn't surprise me if Jean talked to her instead of trying to settle our differences."

"Maybe, but Gascogne could also be a blessing in disguise. As a priority ship, she naturally is loyal to me instead of her faction so there won't be bias. If Jean is talking with her, I think I can figure out what her underlying problem is," Gabriel informed her. A smile appeared as he rose, "You don't need me to tell you to hold out hope for Jean. In the meantime, I have some important work to do but I am always open to talk if you need it."

"And I as well. Merci, Amiral." The battleship rose from her seat with her light shining brightly once again. She would have left the room but stopped at the door, "If it helps you, your brothers and father are very proud of you. May the Lord guide you in his light, amen."

Gabriel's eyes rose in bewilderment as he attempted to stop the Cardinal from leaving, but he was too late. He looked back at the family portrait on his desk, frowning at the thought of their deaths. Except, Richilieu's words were able to break that curse as his heart filled with warmth and a smile rose as well.

Turning back to his work, Gabriel made a few more notes before leaving the paper on his desk and retiring for the night. Eugen was probably waiting for him to get home already for whatever she had planned tonight. Tomorrow, he would have a good talk with Jean Bart with Gascogne there.


The skies were now dark, taking the position the light once had. Waters swayed and nocturnal animals appeared from their dwellings. Clouds passed over with some being pitch black and barely being visible. A lone aircraft flew above these conditions with three figures following on the sea below.

"They just don't quit do they? Just like the Royal Navy should be. Boss, how do we go about shaking them off our trail?" The pilot of the aircraft spoke from his aircraft. His eyes focused solely on keeping the craft flying straight and without turbulence.

Likewise, his passengers seemed to notice their pursuers hadn't rested. Wraith merely muttered, "Must have got a signature when we flew in close. I wondered why those maids of theirs didn't try to shoot us down when they could have. Scramble communications and have the Leviathan initiate disabling."

Down below, the three kansen in pursuit just so happened to be three Royal Navy destroyers. The leader in charge being HMS Hardy followed by Hunter and Eskimo. "It was a good thing the Queen had informed us of these terrorists or they might have escaped our patrol undetected."

"Wasn't the order relayed by Belfast? She seemed to have been confident they were coming in our direction despite our forward base not finding them on radar." Hunter replied, her searchlight aimed upwards towards the aircraft. However, her meager spotlight did little to illuminate the single aircraft high above the skies.

"Only the Ironbloods could make technology to hide like this." Eskimo mentioned before she noted her equipment beginning to ping. "Hold on, we have something large incoming."

"Evasive action!" Hardy ordered as the trio split from their path. Shortly after the command was given, the Leviathan broke the surface. It's illuminating red trails were glowing brightly alongside an energy field being produced inside its mouth. The destroyers opened fire on instinct but their low caliber shells shattered against the armor.

Hunter ceased firing while silently cursing their misfortune, "We should retreat. It took the entire Royal Navy to send this monster back to the sea."

"What about our orders? If we lose track of the assailants, who knows when they will attack again." Eskimo argued, the Queen's orders being absolute. Even so, the Leviathan was far too powerful of a target to take on. There were no Royal Navy nor friendly ships nearby to lend aid.

Hardy could only answer with a frown, "We are outmatched. Fall back and inform Belfast of our location."

The Leviathan would not let them perform their task. Not as it fired its attack in an expansive blue orb expanding over the sea. The electricity hit the three destroyers, causing their rigging to start sparking randomly and their prior movements grounded to a halt. Once the attack was finished, the mechanical beast dove back into the water.

Checking her equipment, Eskimo could only growl in frustration as her radio failed to activate. "Hardy, my rigging isn't working and the radio is completely shot."

The lead destroyer looked towards the escaping aircraft disappearing from her sight, the dark clouds overhead covering any trail it left behind. With their rigging inoperable for the time being, there was little they could do. Sighing, Hardy said, "Hunter, can you shoot a flare to alert any nearby ships of our location? We'll be stranded here until help arrives."

While the group of destroyers fired their emergency flare in hopes someone would pick them up soon, the aircraft from before had effectively gotten away. Wraith looked towards his shoulder plate, seeing the metal mostly disintegrated while some fragments barely held enough integrity to keep from falling apart. Seeing how useless his shoulder plate was, he loosened the straps that held it in place and let the scorched metal clang on the floor.

"You're lucky that you got away with just that. Anywhere closer to your body and you might not even have an arm." The soldier with the multi-eyed helmet stated, bringing over a spare plate to replace the old. "That Admiral being in possession of the Commander's personal weapon only means one thing."

Wraith looked at his comrade, responding with a less than amused tone. "Ash thinks that he'll be the one to change everything. Have you cracked that Mental Cube open?"

"Not yet, Siren coding is a bitch to bypass. In the meantime, I've been monitoring communications and we have a large target on our backs. We'll have to be a lot more subtle on our next target."

Wraith gave a single nod, strapping on the replacement plate. His gaze went towards an old and weathered map of the world with several points of interest marked. "Hawk, find an uninhabited island to land. We have to plan out our next trip."

"Our next trip, boss?" the voice of the pilot came over the speaker

Wraith's gaze went to one particular point in Europe. A single country surrounded by others and yet had a notable history. "Germany."


Finally, get the new chapter out to you guys. I hope you all like it. I don't have much to say but thanks for continuing to read the story.

Stay tuned for the next chapter