This mission just got a lot more complicated-Admiral Anderson on the news that new types of serial Sirens were detected in 1974 during the Battle of New York.
The island on which the Azur Lane 20th Fleet base is located is unique for several reasons. Firstly, it is quite a large island, measuring 1000 square kilometres. It is located in a small chain of islands in the north-western Atlantic some 1500 kilometres from North America. Contrary to expectations, it does not belong to either the UK or the USA. Nor do other countries famous for colonisation own the chain of islands. It is part of the Rzeczpospolita as an island that none of the other colonial states wanted because it was difficult to live on and there were better places to occupy nearby. That is why it escaped the attempts of colonisers despite its convenient location.
The island itself is called Nowe Bieszczady due to its rugged beauty similar to less inhabited regions of Bieszczady and the fact that it has a small mountain chain with the highest peak named after the founder of the local colony namely Jan Nowosielski from Nowosiółka located in Bieszczady. The chain of islands is called New Podkarpacie, the place of origin of the colonists. No natives have ever been found on the largest island, although there are traces and historical sources that a few centuries earlier the island was inhabited by some undiscovered Indian tribe. Who were they and where did they come from? This is a mystery that has never been solved due to the mysterious extinction of this tribe. The last human traces are dated by scientists from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow to around 1550.
The island itself was colonised in 1702 by a small colonisation company owned by a Polish nobleman from the Bieszczady Mountains, Nowosielski. It was one of many such small colonisation companies at that time, aiming to reduce overpopulation in the Commonwealth. Unfortunately, all more convenient locations were taken by the other colonising countries and the eastern coast of America was occupied in its entirety by other powers, so the colonising drive concentrated on taking what the rest did not want. With time it turned out that these inhospitable islands were worth more than the rest and the location itself saved it from sharing the fate of the neighbouring islands belonging to other countries during the Second Siren War.
As a result of the war, the Chain of Islands became the de facto only safe region for any civilian ships and warships. It constituted the easternmost Fortress of Humanity in the Atlantic from North America. It is located just 1,600 kilometres from the region known as the Dark Zone of the Atlantic. The place where the Sirens of the Atlantic reside effectively interrupting most trade routes between the New and Old World.
The capital city of the island and at the same time of Nowopodkarpacka Land (an Independent Administrative Unit in the Rzeczpospolita referring to areas which have their own laws but are too small to be considered a separate voivodeship) is Nowy Novosiolok, ironically called the Miasto Masła Maślanego (a Polish idiom meaning that something is repeated unnecessarily like wooden wood) because of its name.
The land of Nowopodkarpackie itself has a population of over 300 thousand people, many of whom are descendants of refugees from neighbouring islands who arrived here during the Second Mermaid War and were later polonised in the second or third generation.
The local War Port became a Base for the 20th Fleet of the Azur Lane Alliance during World War II and since then a large contingent of American and Republic forces have been stationed on the island.
Because of the Commonwealth law, which is strange for foreigners, individual parts of this Federation have their own armed forces and are free to choose the colours and patterns of their uniforms. Additionally, the Territorial Defence Forces, often referred to as the second army, have their own uniform patterns, sometimes very different from those of the permanent units of the Commonwealth armed forces. It should be remembered that the sailors of the Territorial Defence of the Rzeczpospolita from the Nowopodkarpacie Region have uniforms patterned after the US Navy which leads to frequent mistakes. It is advisable to check the symbols on the uniform to avoid mistakes.
Despite attempts to impose a law that uniform patterns for Territorial Defence should be chosen by MON (Ministry of National Defence) they were all rejected by the Parliament.
Akagi finished reading a short introductory pamphlet for the Military Personnel newly arrived on the island. Akagi read it after coming to the trading area. She did so only after reading the other things and only after realizing that English would not help her in every place. Many inscriptions are written in Polish as well as in the name of this language found on a trilingual board made her realize that Polania is Poland in Polonian. Polania itself was accepted in English as a Synonym of Poland surprising Akagi. Although, as it later turned out, not only Poland has two names to describe itself also Nihon has two names, the second name is already known to her Japan.
Fortunately, she found a couple of shops where they use English, which allowed her to make a relatively smooth purchase. As she found out the money she got was both Zloty Rzeczpospolita which is the currency on the island. A quick look at another booklet later explained to her that the KANSEN are paid in the currency of the country they are stationed in, and that this amount is taken from the Azur Lane budget which is made up of all member countries. Couldn't they have written this in one book? She complained in Akagi's mind about Azur Lane's policy of introducing new people to the alliance, not knowing that the idea for the many brochures was the work of a Warsaw official crazy according to everyone in the Commonwealth. And that such a thing is part of Azur Lane's bases belonging to the Rzeczpospolita. It is also the subject of memes on the Internet, as she found out later.
Then, having done her shopping and obviously put it in the hold, she decided to go to a sweet shop. It was the only pastry shop where it was written that they spoke English. This made it easy for her to distinguish between shops where she could buy something and those where she could not, except maybe in shops where everything is obvious and knowledge of the language is not needed. As she later found out, the reason for this distinction is due to the education system, where apart from the mother tongue of the nation, Polanian is used as a foreign language, which is the lingua franca of the Rzeczpospolita, so English is taught as a secondary language to choose between French, Russian or German, which is why most people don't even learn it!
The patisserie was in English style and besides sweets it also sold tea from the whole British Empire. It was not very big, but it was clearly very popular, although it was empty at the moment. -Good morning. How can I help you? - Asked the old white-haired woman behind the counter Akagi in Polanian with a distinct Irish accent.
Akagi ran out of words for a moment before she remembered the incident from the canteen when she saw her. -Good morning- -She replied and then looked at the selection, not knowing what to choose she decided to ask for the Polish Apple Pie. As it was written next to it, it was one of the specialities of the establishment. The woman smiled at this and then Akagi also asked for British style doughnuts, curious how they differed from the doughnuts she knew, and tea.
After a short while Akagi sat down on a table and the old woman went to fulfil her order. As she sat in the chair, she saw pictures and paintings behind the counter on the wall. Although she did not understand the inscription on the wall, she guessed from the number written on the wall that this was the year in which the confectionery was established and that the photos and paintings showed the successive generations of the family to which it belonged. The inscription which Akagi did not understand reads We have been working with tradition since 1768 when we came from exile from our home and we have been uniting successive generations of Podkarpacie górals and British.
The patisserie was in English style and besides sweets it also sold tea from the whole British Empire. It was not very big, but it was clearly very popular, although it was empty at the moment. -Good morning. How can I help you? - Asked the old white-haired woman behind the counter in Polanian with a distinct Irish accent.
Akagi ran out of words for a moment before she remembered the incident from the canteen when she saw her. -Good morning- -She replied and then looked at the selection, not knowing what to choose she decided to ask for the Polish Apple Pie. As it was written next to it, it was one of the specialities of the establishment. The woman smiled at this and then Akagi also asked for British style pączki curious how they differed from the doughnuts she knew, and tea.
After a few minutes the white-haired woman came again and gave Akagi her order. -Enjoy your meal,- she said and the manners with which she served Akagi the food made it clear to her that her suspicions were true. -Pardon my rudeness, but were you by any chance a KANSEN? -She asked politely but without any pressure from Akagi
-That's right, I used to be HMS Belfast of the Royal Navy but today I am Elizabeth Bojlik, a simple wife of a Polish confectioner.- She answered calmly, expecting the question. Every new girl asks her the same thing when she gets here. It's a strange coincidence that every one of them ends up here except, of course, the KANSEN of the Rzeczpospolita.
Akagi nodded and started to eat and after a while she stopped to ask but Elizabeth knew what she was asking -Did anyone make me uncomfortable about it?- she said wanting to make sure she had guessed and seeing Akagi's confirmation she added -Not really, I'm not the first one to marry a foreigner and it's generally not frowned upon by the authorities anymore like it was during the Second World War from what I've heard from older friends or older Belfast- Akagi nodded and then went back to eating.
After finishing and paying on the way out she asked -And just how did they differentiate you from the other versions of Belfast?- The older Woman replied -Each of us had our own number like the clones from Star Wars had, I was if I remember correctly KBT-567 which means KANSEN BELFAST TOWN. Created as the 567th version of HMS Belfast.- Akagi nodded - Thank you for the explanation and Goodbye- Then she left towards the base.
-An interesting girl just like you said Bartek- Elizabeth said to herself. Further thoughts were interrupted by her daughter who came out of the bakery -Mom, dad told me to tell you that we need some yeast because it's gone. -Shook her head. -Your father and his experiments as a baker and confectioner.- Her daughter squinted at her mother's mumbling. Contrary to popular belief, KANSEN children are not exclusively female and do not look like smaller versions of their mothers. Elizabeth's daughter is a perfect example of this, having more in common with her father's appearance, especially her father's dark brown hair as well as her younger brother's lighter shade. The only thing she takes after her mother for sure is clearly visible and needless to say what.
Eagle Union Dormitory
Akagi Room
17:30
Upon returning to her room, Akagi unpacked her purchases and placed them in their place. The place of honour was taken by a big flat screen TV in a place that clearly said that once there was a similar one. Akagi still couldn't believe that something like that existed in this world, to her knowledge the development of such a TV set should have been in a couple of decades, not in the 70's. Another thing was that many things still didn't fit her, as if someone had played with time and combined various objects from different places.
Fortunately, as she herself said according to her crew that when it appeared it doesn't interest her, the important thing is that there are a lot of things she is familiar with and she doesn't have to move too much from one lifestyle to another like when she first appeared.
Going back to shopping, apart from the TV set she also bought herself a laptop and a DVD player. And a large collection of movies to gain knowledge. Needless to say, many of these were cooking series on DVD. A particularly large part of them was taken up by Jan Robert Makłowicz's Culinary Travels, recommended by the staff. Apparently the internationally known Polish food critic travelling the world here. The series has subtitles in many languages on the disc, including Japanese!
Without waiting long Akagi switched on the first disc and after a short opening credits showing Makłowicz in different places doing steorotypical things connected with cuisines of those countries she heard -Good day to you, it is my pleasure to welcome you warmly to Slovenia... - After a few moments of watching Akagi smiled and thought I must have found my new favourite culinary programme. Her crew who quickly jumped on her shoulders just nodded their heads.
At the same time
Dark Zone of the Atlantic
Unknown Location
Observer was pleased to see that the first phase of her plan was going according to plan. So far, no one had interfered with her plan, not any of her companions or that cursed Commander, as was often his habit. -Why does it always have to happen to me? -She asked without looking for an answer. -All the time that cursed Anomaly is spoiling everything! -She shouted to herself after being unnecessarily reminded of Him. -Since we came here He's been messing things up. He doesn't even have the decency to introduce himself or answer who sent him. Because the fact that he is not from this world is obvious.- She said screwing herself up. Unfortunately despite her pleas to the higher-ups she was ignored. -Worse, it's as if they almost didn't hear me- She said to herself calming down reminding herself once again anyway. -I'm going to find out how He does it and this plan will help me!
She looked again at her observation panel where she was watching Akagi and then turned on another image. The image of the other test subjects. -I'll make this Commander regret everything he's done to me and show the others that I'm not a detached crazy bitch!- Then the Observer laughed like a certain crazy clown, called by everyone a crazy bitch detached from reality both by the people directly and by the other Sirens under her Commander as well as the higher levels. Of course Sirens do this quietly preferring to preserve their lives.
The image in turn represented what Akagi knows all too well, her worst nightmare and that of all known humanity. A huge horde of Abyssals held in stasis, and a certain group of Kanmusu held captive, forced to dream constant nightmares. It seems that Observer's cruel laughter only made Kanmusu's dreams worse, because right after she finished and got busy planning new raids and implementing phase two of the plan all the girls in captivity started chuckling more. -Ups, we can't afford to have the defenders of humanity in a poor state, right?- she said to herself Observer and then ordered another dose to be given to put Kanmus deeper to sleep. -Sleep dear, for your nightmare has only just begun- smiled the Observer sadistically.
The tester who came to her to give the new data thought to herself Seriously? Why haven't they replaced that idiot yet? She is a danger to our mission. What she didn't realise was that her commander's suspicions about the perpetrator were entirely correct. And the madness itself is the result of his actions, not that she was sane before. It's just that a certain commander turned up her madness to make it easier to defeat her. After all, the biggest problem for the Third Reich was its leader himself, right?